


The Safehouse

by Angelikah



Series: Safehouse [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Don't worry, F/M, Rebekoline BroTP, There's smut, adorable baby things, also a reality check for caroline, but elena's always a jerk, did i mention that there's smut?, elena's a jerk, eventually, hayley dies, lots of klaus groveling, minor Delena, minor Mabekah, so that's pretty normal, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:20:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 55,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4493382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelikah/pseuds/Angelikah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rebekah and Hope aren't the only ones stuck in Maine. Klaus Mikaelson had more than one weakness, so he told his sister to make a quick stop in Virginia. And, no matter how cute the baby is, Weakness #2 is so, totally not okay with this situation. Seriously. Post 5x22 (TVD and TO).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fanfic. It's unbeta'd. I hope you enjoy it. :)

" _You need a witch you can trust to cast a cloaking spell."_

" _I'll get one."_

" _No one can ever know. No one can find her."_

" _I know what to do Nik."_

_They both glanced at Hope again, bundled up in her brother's arms. Rebekah's breath caught._

" _Perhaps we'll get a white fence. I think that would be lovely."_

_Her brother stared at Hope for a few moments. She had never seen her brother so emotional… The only time he came close was when—_

" _I need you to do something else for me, Rebekah."_

" _Of course."_

" _I need you to make a detour to Mystic Falls."_

" _Mystic Falls? Why?"_

_She had a funny feeling that she knew exactly why. She cradled Hope in her arms, marveling at how little she was. Soft and sweet and…absolutely, utterly defenseless._

" _I can't have anyone vulnerable that can be used against me. She isn't safe, Rebekah."_

_They both knew the 'she' her brother was referring to._

" _What if she escapes? Tells people?"_

" _Caroline wouldn't harm an innocent."_

" _So, you want me to take them both to the safehouse?"_

" _Yes."_

" _She won't want to go."_

" _I know."_

" _She'll be angry at you."_

" _I know."_

_Rebekah stared at him, adjusting Hope in her arms slightly as the baby stirred in her sleep._

" _Can you promise me, Sister?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Thank you." She didn't think he'd ever looked so heartbroken in her life._

" _You need to leave," he said, turning around._

_She heard the end of the sentence, though he didn't say it: "Before I change my mind"_

" _Goodbye, Nik."_

" _Good luck, Sister."_

_He sped off into the night._

_She secured Hope into the carseat that she had bought on the way._

" _We'll be safe. I'll make sure of it," she said to the baby, though she knew that Hope couldn't understand her promise._

_She buckled herself into the driver's seat and started the ignition, pulling out onto the road._

" _But before we get there, Auntie Rebekah has to pick up a friend. Perhaps we should buy you some earmuffs on the way, as there will be a lot of screaming."_

* * *

Day 1

Caroline sat outside of the border to Mystic Falls in the early morning sun reading a grimoire. Or, at least, trying to read. She had gone over the same paragraph over and over for the past ten minutes, but just couldn't get herself to focus.

She was nearing the end of the tome, and a part of her didn't want to acknowledge that it was another dead end.

She had taken to getting up reasonably early—around seven o'clock or so—and walking to the border of Mystic Falls from her apartment to sit in a grassy field just outside the forest. It was only nine, and she already had a feeling the day would be a bust.

Sighing, she got up and stored the grimoire in her purse, turning to go back to her apartment. She hadn't gone more than three steps before her neck was snapped.

Needless to say, when she woke up she was furious.

She opened her eyes to see that she was in a car on a freeway. She was weak—perhaps her kidnapper injected her with vervain—and it was still daytime.

Rebekah Mikaelson sat in the driver's seat, and when Caroline stirred, she looked at her.

"What is going on?" Caroline demanded.

"New Orleans is at war. My brother asked me to take you and Hope to a safehouse and stay with you until the threat subsides," Rebekah said in clipped tones.

"A safehouse?"

"Look, I'm just as happy about this as you are, but I need you to hear me out. My brother is in love with you—although I doubt he'd use those words; he's a bit emotionally stunted—"

Caroline snorted her agreement.

"And you become a danger to yourself and others when he is threatened like this. His enemies know too much about you."

"What do you mean a danger to myself and others? And wait, who's Hope?"

Rebekah gave a long-suffering sigh. "They'll kidnap your stupid little friends to bait you, and then they'll use  _you_ to capture my brother. As you don't want your friends to die, and I'm perfectly happy letting my brother live for at least another year or two, we're on the same side here. And if you look behind you, you'll see Hope."

There was a baby in the backseat.

A frigging baby.

"Did you  _steal_  a baby?" Caroline asked, her eyes wide.

Rebekah gave her a supremely insulted look. "No. I did not  _steal a baby_. That's my niece."

"Your  _niece?_  Vampires can't have children."

"Well, werewolves can."

_Klaus got someone pregnant? Wow, last love my ass._

"Why does he need me safe? Clearly he's moved on with someone if he has a frigging baby."

"If he had moved on he wouldn't have asked me to take you," Rebekah replied flatly.

"So, assuming I'm going to go along with this, where are we going?"

"You  _are_ going along with this, even if I have to make you, and I suggest you don't let it come to that, because as I'm sure you know I've wanted to kill you for at least a year, now."

"If you truly believe that Klaus still cares about me, I wouldn't do that."

"He'd get over it, I assure you."

Caroline snorted.

"As for where we're going, I can't tell you."

"Whatever." Caroline crossed her arms petulantly and stared out the window.

Rebekah let out a long-suffering sigh, and when she spoke again she sounded more tired than irritated. "I know that you think that this is unnecessary, but my brother would rather not take any chances. He seems to believe that you would never give Hope away to die, and I trust his judgment, even if I don't trust you. I've wanted children all my life, but I know next to nothing about babies. I need your help, Caroline. Hope needs your help."

Caroline inwardly cursed the fact that guilt trips were so effective on her.

She glanced back at the baby, who was now awake and observing her surroundings with wide eyes.

"Also, in case you don't remember, I'm a thousand years old, and therefore have a thousand years of knowledge of witchcraft. Perhaps I can help you get your friends back."

That was an olive branch if Caroline had ever heard one.

"Fine."

* * *

Rebekah pulled off of the freeway into a shopping center just near Richmond, and turned to Caroline after she parked. "I didn't have a chance to get any of your clothes, as I don't know where you're living. Nik didn't give me any supplies for the road, so I was hoping that you could stop and get an outfit or two for Hope and maybe something for yourself while I stop at the grocery store and get some formula and diapers and such. We won't need much, as we should arrive by tonight."

Hope started to fuss, and Caroline opened the back door to pick her up out of her seat, immediately marveling at the softness of the baby in her arms. Her breath caught, and she felt the pull of some maternal instinct that told her to protect this tiny bundle from anything and everything that could harm it.

"Yes, yes I know that my niece is adorable, but if you're quite finished making doe eyes we're on a schedule," Rebekah snapped from behind her, holding her arms out, "I'll take her."

After handing Hope over to Rebekah, Caroline checked the time on her phone. "When do you want to meet back?"

"Is forty-five minutes long enough for you?"

"More than enough."

"Excellent. Let me give you my number."

After that was done with, Rebekah walked off in the direction of the grocery store, and Caroline headed in the opposite direction to Target. She took care of herself first, and bought a blouse, a sweater, underthings, and a pair of jeans. She headed to the baby section, and was immediately overwhelmed by the sea of pastels, baby animals, and cartoon characters. Checking to see the time—she had about half an hour left—she found the section for newborn babies and picked out a few onesies. She was about to leave the section to go to the registers when she saw a rack of diaper bags. Realizing that she didn't know if Rebekah had already gotten one, she decided that worst came to worst, they'd end up with two diaper bags and some extra bottles and pacifiers.

Mindful of the security cameras, she went to the register and handed over her card, compelling the cashier to think that she had paid, and then walked back to the car.

Rebekah was waiting in the driver's seat with Hope already safely strapped into the back.

"What took you so long?"

"I didn't know if you had a diaper bag or bottles, so I bought some."

Rebekah started the car and pulled out silently, which indicated to Caroline that she hadn't bought any but was unwilling to acknowledge that Caroline had done anything remotely productive.

Rebekah pulled onto the freeway and Caroline returned to looking out the window.

* * *

Caroline sat in the airport waiting area, having just finished feeding Hope and holding her close to her chest. They were waiting for Rebekah to come back with their plane tickets. She had never seen a calmer baby in her life—not that she had enough experience with babies for a fair comparison—and Hope was just taking in the bustle around her with wide baby eyes.

Caroline remembered reading somewhere that talking to your baby, or whoever's baby this happened to be—she should really ask about that at some point—helped their development. So she started to explain to Hope what the plan was for the day (as far as she knew).

"—and then Auntie Rebekah and you and me are going to get on a big plane and fly to our new house," Caroline finished, taking her ticket from Rebekah who had just returned.

"Portland?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah shushed her, and said something about there being ears everywhere. Caroline rolled her eyes and followed Rebekah, cradling Hope carefully in her arms.

The plane ride wasn't all that eventful, besides Rebekah going into more detail about what exactly the emergency was in New Orleans and what the plan was for Hope (which was something along the lines of the three of them living in isolation until Klaus lets them know that it's safe to go back, which in Caroline's humble opinion was a complete bullshit plan, thankyouverymuch), and as soon as they landed Rebekah had put out a phone call to someone who Caroline assumed was a witch in the area. They took a bus downtown to a reasonably clean-looking motel, where they checked in for the night.

Rebekah left to meet with the witch after threatening Caroline with the most grisly death she could come up with on short notice if she so much as  _thought_ of leaving with the baby.

Left alone with Hope, Caroline fed her and changed her, before sitting down in bed with Hope on her lap, watching PBS. When Rebekah finally returned, Hope had just fallen asleep.

They left the motel and Rebekah directed them to a minivan that she had apparently bought while she was out, and they drove about fifteen minutes to a small suburban neighborhood, stopping at the gates of a housing complex.

Caroline carried their luggage behind Rebekah, and there was a short middle-aged man waiting on the front steps.

"Hello, James."

James returned the greeting, and once he had been introduced to Caroline, he informed them that the cloaking spell would be in place as soon as he had blood to anchor it to. Rebekah quickly bit her arm and let the blood fall into the cup James held out. He started chanting, and the wind picked up quickly before stilling again.

"It's done." He said.

"Thank you."

"Of course. Always a pleasure, Miss Rebekah," he said, a shadow of a smile on his face, "And it's lovely to meet you, Caroline."

He took his leave, and Rebekah opened the front door. The place was unfurnished and lonely, and Caroline found herself almost looking forward to decorating it.

"We'll have to decorate," Rebekah said, clearly thinking along the same lines as Caroline.

It was nearing eight o'clock, and Caroline was getting hungry. "I need to stop at the hospital," Caroline said, "Do you want me to pick up anything?"

"Stop somewhere on the way and see if you can pick up baby furniture, or at least a crib. Perhaps some sleeping bags as well for us."

"Sure."

Exceeding expectations as usual, Caroline returned with a crib, a changing table, two air mattresses, three sets of sheets, a portable microwave, a crate of blood bags, and a minifridge, as well as various toiletries, towels, and toilet paper. It took at least five trips to bring everything in, and Caroline took a silly sort-of pleasure at watching Rebekah's face become more impressed with every new delivery.

After everything had been set up and Hope had been settled in her crib, Rebekah flopped back on her newly inflated air mattress, and Caroline followed the Original's example on her own.

"Rebekah?"

"Hmm?"

"How long do we have to stay here?"

"Until New Orleans is no longer at war."

"How long will that be?"

"I don't know."

"Okay."

They were quiet for a few moments. Hope cooed a little in her sleep.

"Is Klaus going to visit at all?" Caroline asked, inwardly cursing the tremble in her voice.

She could've sworn she heard Rebekah's smirk. "If it's safe, I suppose. I know he'll want to see his daughter."

"When?"

"I don't know."

Caroline fiddled a little bit with her daylight ring. She knew that Rebekah wouldn't have brought her here unless she—or Klaus—thought it was necessary. She certainly wasn't happy about it, but there would be time to yell at Klaus soon. For now, there was a baby that needed her help.

They sat in silence for a while before Caroline spoke again.

"Look, I know we haven't exactly been the best of friends, and I doubt either of us are really happy about this whole thing, but maybe we should at least try to get along?"

She heard Rebekah chuckle. "It's not like I've got much of a choice."

Caroline decided to take that as Rebekah Language for "I agree."

* * *

Day 9

"I like the slate blue. I think the robin's egg might be a bit harsh for the bathroom," Rebekah said, biting her lip and holding up both color blocks side-by-side.

"I do too." Caroline said from the other side of the room, having looked up from a Pottery Barn catalog where she had been trying to find ideas for furniture to give her opinion. Their condo had two bedrooms, with Rebekah and Hope in the larger one, and Caroline taking the smaller. They were currently trying to find a color palette for the kitchen, living room, and bathroom, with the unspoken agreement that they would decorate their own rooms separately.

Caroline being Caroline, she already knew exactly what she wanted.

Luckily, as far as the shared spaces went, they seemed to have similar tastes. They both favored lighter colors and modern furniture, which made the process of decorating less confrontational. They had both liked the idea of white furniture, but it soon became clear that with a baby in the house, anything that stained easily was not the best idea.

It was incredibly lucky that Rebekah recognized the practical issues with the color scheme they wanted, because she didn't seem to know the meaning of 'compromise,' nor did she want to learn, so unless Caroline came up with ideas Rebekah liked, they wouldn't come to fruition.

Luckily, the other girl also got bored fairly easily, and when Caroline had suggested that she take care of her own room and the kitchen—providing it matched well with the décor of the other rooms—Rebekah had quickly agreed.

They had already purchased some basic pieces once they decided on a general style of furniture; double beds for both of them, a couch, and a television. Hope had received a new crib, and Rebekah had designated a large closet in the hallway for all the items that they had no use for, but were unwilling to throw away.

It turned out that despite having a thousand years to collect and discard things, she was a bit of a packrat.

It had been a little more than a week since the first night in the safehouse, and they were already nearly to the last stage of decorating—buying everything. Caroline had no idea what they'd do after they were done. Both of the girls had serious Type A personalities, and neither would want to stay still for long. A tiny part of Caroline (that had been suppressed about a second after it had reared its, in her opinion, ugly and unwanted head) had wanted to slow down a bit just because she knew she wouldn't have anything to do with herself.

She had just gone back to inspecting dining room furniture when she heard Hope start to fuss. Both girls put down what they were doing immediately and attended to the baby, who was lying on her stomach near the television on the floor next to a large pile of baby toys (purchased on Day Two). Rebekah had read somewhere that "tummy time" was important, and as a result, Hope had an hour or two of it every day.

Rebekah picked up Hope and cradled her in her arms. "She's hungry."

"I'll take her," Caroline offered. Rebekah obligingly passed Hope off and returned to her contemplation of the color palette for the living room.

Caroline made a bottle for Hope, and sat on the couch with the baby, setting the bottle down when Hope had finished and started talking to her softly. Hope observed her with wide eyes—Hayley's eyes—as Caroline softly started singing.

Caroline had figured out the identity of the mother on Day Three (without any help from Rebekah, except for the nod that confirmed her theory). For a few days she had been angry at Klaus, and as a result Rebekah wouldn't let her near hope as the "anger was upsetting her development." Caroline soon realized, however, that she didn't have any claim to him. In fact, she had rejected him quite harshly almost the entire time she had known him.

She still wasn't sure that she liked him. Sure, they had great sex—okay,  _amazing_  sex—but did she like him as a person?

Um. No.

Or at least, that's what she told herself.

Still though, Hope was a baby who had no control over parentage, and Caroline already somehow felt responsible for her welfare (even though it really wasn't any of her business). In fact, a tiny immature part of her sadistically reveled in the idea of raising Hayley's baby when the werewolf wasn't able to.

Every time she felt that part of her start to come out, she ruthlessly suppressed it.

Hope started to fuss, and so Caroline set her in the crib, returning to the living room.

"Do you know what you want? The sooner we find everything, the better."

"Yes, I think I do. Here, I'll circle everything."

Rebekah picked up the catalog she had been perusing and started circling items, careful to also select colors to go with them. The plan had been for them to order everything from the supplier, but they soon realized that setting up a shipping address might cause too much attention. Instead, Caroline and Rebekah planned to rent a truck and take turns going to the various furniture stores in the area to hunt for similar items.

This would also buy them at least another week of busy activity.

Caroline took the catalog once Rebekah had finished and looked everything over. "Do you want me to go try to pick up the smaller stuff now? I can probably fit it in the car."

"If you're willing to, yes."

Caroline returned from her shopping expedition hours later with a coffee table, an end table, a rug, and a few paintings to hang on the wall. She had also bought another week's worth of clothes for her and Hope and a few pairs of shoes, which she could live with until she had a chance to truly shop.

After they had set up the new pieces of furniture, they both sat on the couch with blood bags (Caroline taking small amounts of pleasure from the disgusted look on Rebekah's face when she took the first sip) and squabbled over which program to watch—Caroline made a mental note to see if they could get a DVR—and they eventually sat down to True Blood (apparently Rebekah's favorite show, though for the life of her Caroline could figure out why).

Hope started fussing about halfway through the episode, and Rebekah went to calm her down, eventually bringing her back to sit with them in the living room.

"So, I've been thinking," Caroline started.

"Don't hurt yourself."

"When was that comeback invented, the third century?"

Rebekah shrugged. "It's not old, it's classic. Continue."

"Well, I've been thinking that we won't have much to do after we finish decorating, and I was wondering whether we had to stay in the safehouse all the time."

"You've been leaving to go to the store. I don't know why you wouldn't be able to leave."

"But would it be safe to get a job? Or go to school?"

Rebekah pressed her lips together, and Caroline had a feeling that she was contemplating how to break a piece of bad news. "Well, you really shouldn't be outside all that often. In fact, I'm sure that if Nik knew it was you doing the shopping and not me he'd be furious. But after almost nine hundred years of living before this century I understand what it's like to be bored at home, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Caroline grimaced at the reminder that in Rebekah's experience, the feminist movement was  _very_ new. When she had been daggered women barely had the right to vote in the United States.

"If you can find something to do that's inside, I don't think that there would be a problem."

Caroline had already thought of a few options, but she was nervous to ask. Rebekah had been relatively nice for the last week, and Caroline didn't particularly want to risk breaking the trend. However, the worst she could do was say no, and Caroline had an argument prepared for it just in case.

"How many languages do you speak?"

Rebekah looked slightly surprised by the question. "Many. Although, quite a few are dead languages, and I'm sure that I'm horrendously out of date with the conversational aspects of many of them. I'm fairly confident that if I went to Italy at this point I would sound incredibly pretentious because my language would be so formal."

"Are there any you feel comfortable teaching?"

"Are you asking me to  _teach_ you a foreign language?"

Caroline shrugged. "I'm a vampire, and I'm going to be alive for a long time. I want options if I want to travel."

Rebekah looked unconvinced, so Caroline decided to pull out her trump card. "And I've read that children who know more than one language tend to be more creative thinkers and develop more skills than other children, so if Hope was around more than one language, she might have an advantage."

Rebekah seemed to consider this a moment. "What language would you want to learn?"

"What do you think would be useful?"

"It depends what you want to do with it, I suppose. If you're not learning with a specific purpose in mind, I think Hope would most likely benefit most from a latin-based language, like Spanish or French."

"I took some French in high school, which might make it easier."

"That's true. You can't study a language sixteen hours a day though, so I'd assume that you might have more in mind than just learning French."

Caroline shrugged. She had thought about it, but she hadn't come up with anything all that practical, besides cooking, which she wouldn't be able to use until Hope got older and began eating solid foods, assuming they were still stuck here of course.

_Best not to tempt fate on that, so no on the cooking._

"Do you have any suggestions?"

Rebekah shrugged. "I've had time to get interested in quite a few things over the years, but I don't know what you'd like or would want to learn. And even then, no offense, but I don't think I could handle teaching you something all the time."

Caroline laughed. "Don't worry, I don't think I'd appreciate it all that much either."

Rebekah gave her a genuine smile.

"I suppose not. Well, there are a few things that you can mostly teach yourself, where I could help if you had a problem."

"Like?"

"I play three different musical instruments, and I can sew—that was required of any real lady for hundreds of years—and there was a period of time where I was very much into sword fighting, although something tells me that's not something you would be interested in."

Caroline laughed. "Yeah, no thanks."

"In terms of things that you could do completely on your own, you could always write or paint. I went through a period of time where I liked painting, but doing anything in that realm of interest with Nik around is a huge pain in the arse."

"I'd imagine."

"There's also pottery, weaving… Any number things to try in the fine arts."

"I'll think about it."

Rebekah smiled slightly, and shifted a sleeping Hope in her arms. "All right. I'm going to go put Hope back in her crib."

"Okay."

* * *

Day 12

Caroline was exhausted.

She had spent 12 days so far with a newborn baby and she was already contemplating snapping her own neck just to guarantee that she'd get some sleep. Unfortunately, not only would leaving Hope to fend for herself for half a day be incredibly dangerous, but if Rebekah came back to find Caroline with her neck snapped… Well, let's just say that Caroline was almost positive that Rebekah secretly held a "How to Throw an Effective and Terrifying Tantrum" workshop for all the contestants of America's Next Top Model every season before they started filming.

Can you compel babies? Probably not, at least not when Hope didn't speak or understand English yet. In addition, Hope was a witch with a werewolf gene—she didn't quite understand how babies could be vampires, but whatever, she'd disregard that for the moment—so she probably couldn't be compelled anyway.

Plus it seemed rather unethical.

When Rebekah came back from her errands perhaps Caroline would be able to get some sleep. She hoped so, anyway. She sank down on the couch and picked up the remote, and just as though Hope knew that she was about to relax, she started screaming. Groaning, Caroline put down the remote to go attend to the baby.

She picked up Hope out of the crib and carried her to the kitchen to feed her. She had just taken the bottle out of the microwave and was testing the temperature of it with the thermometer—it was difficult for vampires to accurately determine the temperature of things, particularly food—when she heard a faint jingle from the living room. After confirming that the formula was a safe temperature, she carried Hope into the living room to investigate the noise. Rebekah had left her laptop open on the coffee table, and someone was calling her on Skype.

Klaus.

After a moment of indecision, hoping that Rebekah wouldn't be angry with her for touching the computer, she sat down and answered the call, setting Hope in the crook of her arm and starting to feed her. The video immediately turned on, and she saw Klaus's expectant face.

"Sister. How are you settling in?"

Caroline clicked the button to turn on the video and settled Hope carefully in her arms.

"Rebekah's out right now, actually," she said as the video turned on.

Klaus's face split into a huge grin as he saw her.

"How are my two favorite girls?"

Caroline glowered at him and Hope cooed. Caroline adjusted the laptop so that the camera would point at them if she sat down, and carefully settled Hope more stably in her arms.

"Obviously, Hope and I are fine."

"You seem angry," Klaus said, looking much like a dog that destroyed all the living room furniture and knew he was in trouble.

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"You basically put me on house arrest with your sister who hates me and a baby that isn't mine, and didn't give me any explanation. I haven't talked to you in, like, four months, and you still think you can just swoop in and cart me off somewhere and…and try to run my life because you think you know what's best for me," Caroline said in a rush, only just now realizing how truly  _angry_ she was.

"I know you care about me, I do, and I know that you know that I care about you, but it's not an excuse for  _kidnapping_ me. You have no right to tell me how to live my life or take my choices away, especially when I don't have all the information. Speaking of, how  _dare_ you come to Mystic Falls and sleep with me when you had Hayley pregnant back in New Orleans and not tell me a thing, and then expect me to just…to just be  _fine_ with it?" there were tears in her eyes now, and she closed her eyes to keep them at bay.

When she opened them, she saw that his face had softened, and he looked genuinely apologetic.

"I needed you to be safe."

"Yes, I got that," Caroline said, trying to sound sarcastic, but the effect was ruined by the hitch in her voice.

"And to be fair, Hayley being pregnant didn't really have much to do with you—" he saw the absolute fury on her face, and seemed to think better of finishing the sentence.

Even though she had been through that reasoning many times in her own head, it was different to hear him say it out loud. She knew she was being irrational, had told herself that every single time the thought had come up, but she was just so…so…completely _infuriated_ by the absolute gall of the man on the other side of the camera. Angry tears were falling down her cheeks now, and she couldn't help the hiccup that escaped her.

And to go a step further and make her take  _care_ of the baby…the whole business was one thing for Rebekah, who had been alive almost a thousand years. She'd had time to think about everything she wanted, to consider the pros and cons of motherhood. Caroline liked to think that she would have wanted kids someday, but she truly hadn't had the time to decide, to truly consider the consequences of it. She may be immortal, but she was still nineteen years old.

_Nineteen._

She'd been thrust into a caretaker position for a baby she was in no position to take care of with absolutely no warning.  _At least girls her age that had gotten pregnant had nine months to get used to the idea_ , she thought wryly. She'd had a few days less than two weeks. And yet she still felt responsible for the baby in her arms, she already loved her, already wanted to keep her safe.

And that absolutely enraged her.

"I think that it now has quite a lot to do with me, actually," She said coldly, absently cuddling Hope closer to her chest and making comforting sounds as she started fussing.

Apparently being in the arms of an apoplectic caretaker was a little much for a baby to handle.

Klaus was absolutely silent. He seemed to genuinely not know what to say. He even looked…ashamed?

"Are you…At least settling in well?" He asked hesitantly.

Caroline scoffed. "Well  _thank you_ for asking, Klaus. It's been lovely."

He looked uncharacteristically nervous.

"Are you comfortable? With the accommodations, I mean."

"Yes. For a prison it's pretty frigging fantastic."

A fleeting shadow of irritability came to his face. "Look, Sweetheart, for what it's worth, I really am sorry."

"I know. But that doesn't mean I can't be angry."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How is Hope adjusting?" He asked, apparently looking for a neutral change of subject.

He was successful, and Caroline allowed herself a small smile. "She's fine. She's starting to move around more now, and we're making sure to do everything we're supposed to. Rebekah and I have been reading tons of websites and books, and we're trying to keep Hope as happy as possible," she said, knowing she was babbling, but somehow not able to stop.

"Good to hear."

"I should hope so."

There was an awkward silence for a moment, before he spoke again. "How long has Rebekah been gone?"

"A little more than an hour. She'll be back soon. She just went to run some errands."

Caroline looked down at Hope, who had fallen asleep.

"I need to put Hope down for a nap. Should I tell Rebekah you called?"

"Please."

She nodded and grabbed the mouse, trying to not wake the baby in her arms.

"Caroline," Klaus spoke before she hit the 'end call' button.

"Yes?"

He gave her a serious look. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will," she said, preparing to hang up again, "Bye."

"Talk to you soon," he half-said-half-corrected.

She hung up.


	2. Chapter 2

 

Day 13

Rebekah was banging on her door again.

It was nice that she was being polite enough not to break it down, but it was getting incredibly annoying.

"Stop pouting, Caroline. Yes, my brother is a prick, but we have bigger things to worry about."

No. No they really didn't. As far as Caroline was concerned, they were stuck in this stupid house in this stupid state for god-knows-how-long, and they had all the time in the world.

And if she wanted to spend it in her room by herself trying not throw things, that's what she would do.

Frankly, she didn't care how angry Rebekah was about it, because the  _only_  good thing that the stupid Original douchewad had ever done for her was to tell his goddamn sister not to kill her.

Okay, and he was an  _excellent_ fuck, but she didn't see that happening ever again. In fact, if she had her way he'd be dickless—at least then he wouldn't impregnate any not-close-to-innocent weresluts. Unfortunately it would just grow back again. Reflecting on that, Caroline decided that she just invented the most sadistic and painful torture method of all time.

She couldn't wait to use it.

Rebekah continued banging at the door.

"Caroline…"

"No."

"Caroline, you're acting like a child."

"No, I'm really not. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you were in my shoes half the town would be dead by now."

"Probably," Rebekah said calmly from the other side, "But I'm not, and this isn't productive."

"I have eternity to be productive."

"You won't if you stay in there. You'll starve."

"I'll come out for a blood bag later."

She heard Rebekah stomp off, and she rolled over to bury her face back in her pillow. Unfortunately, about five minutes later Rebekah came back, and she eased the door open.

"Look, I understand that this is hard for you."

"Ya think?" Caroline mumbled into her pillow.

"You realize that my brother has repeatedly locked me inside a coffin for decades, right? He's a prick. I understand. In fact, 90% of the time I'm ashamed to be related to him, even if it's only through one parent. I'm not minimizing the issue here."

"Really? Because you seem to be under the delusion that I should forget about it, which is so  _not_ going to happen."

Rebekah just gave her an unimpressed eyeroll and put her hands on her hips. "I never said that. Look, we don't have to talk about it, and I'll run interference if you wish so that you don't have to talk to him, but you need to come out and help me with Hope."

Caroline felt slightly guilty at Rebekah's words. It was true. She had left Rebekah on her own with Hope for the last few days. Sighing, she got up and wandered into the kitchen to sip on a blood bag.

Rebekah followed her, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

They sat down at the table, and Rebekah stuck a bottle in the microwave.

"Can I talk to you?" Caroline asked.

Rebekah gave her an exasperated look. "You already are."

"I mean, like, vent."

"I suppose."

Caroline sighed. "I'm just like…I don't know why he thinks it's okay to just interfere with my life. I mean, yes, I was planning on dropping out of Whitmore anyway, but I didn't want to  _leave_. I just wanted to take some time off to figure out how to get Bonnie back. And now I can't talk to my friends—who haven't even tried to figure out where I am, by the way—and I just don't know what to do with myself."

Rebekah gave her a sympathetic look.

"I just feel so betrayed. Like, fucking Hayley? Really? After all she did to me?"

"What did she do?" Rebekah asked, looking surprised.

"Um. She snapped my neck and vervained me when she was off un-siring her future bang-mate's hybrid army. And, by the way, does he know that was her? Because if he's willing to overlook that, then that's a frigging miracle."

"I knew that she helped un-sire the hybrids," Rebekah said slowly, "but—and I'm not saying that this is an excuse, or that he was in the right—but you hated her, and he was jealous."

"I don't  _care._  I don't  _care_ whether he was jealous. He said he'd wait for me. He said that he would be my last love, and that he cared about me, and he was a  _lying bastard._ "

"He does love you."

"Well, he has a really crappy way of showing it."

Rebekah laughed softly. "I agree."

"He just…it was like he was the only person that  _remotely_ cared what happened to me. It's been almost two weeks and I haven't heard a single word from my friends. It's like they haven't even noticed that I'm missing. They don't  _care_. They aren't even trying to find me. And…and I'd like to think that he would have if I disappeared. I thought that he'd put me first, for like, the first time _ever_ I was someone's first choice. Tyler picked Hayley over me. Hell, he picked his stupid fucking revenge trip over me. And I thought that Klaus of all people wouldn't have…have  _hurt_ me like this."

Caroline was sobbing again, and Rebekah seemed to have a brief internal battle before she got up and hugged the other girl. Caroline clutched onto Rebekah's shirt and let her tears fall. She hadn't been hugged in days. Weeks, even. And Rebekah was here, and she was at least pretending to care. They were on the same side, it seemed. For now, anyway.

She cried for Stefan, who had lost his epic love and his brother in the span of a year.

She cried for Bonnie, who wasn't gone—couldn't be gone—but wasn't here now. Bonnie who might never come back, who always knew what to say.

She cried for Elena, who had lost more than anyone she'd ever met. The eternal survivor was withering away before everyone's eyes.

She cried for Jeremy, who had his first three loves drop like glass on concrete, shattered to quickly to save. The boy taken for granted until he was needed, always second to Elena, practically her kindred supernatural spirit in that way.

She cried for Matt, who might have the most tragic story of all of them.

She cried for Tyler, her first love; for Alaric, their rock; hell, even for Damon.

She cried for Hope, who would spend her whole life with a target on her back for the crime of being born.

And for the first time since she woke up on that hospital bed over a year ago craving human blood, she cried for herself.

It felt like hours before Rebekah released her, and Caroline realized that Rebekah had been crying too.

"Stop crying, you're making me cry," Rebekah said crossly, wiping her eyes.

Caroline let out a bitter watery laugh.

"I have an idea. To keep you occupied, I mean."

"What?"

"Would you like to help me turn the condo next to ours into a gym?"

"A  _gym_?"

"It would give you something to do. And, once you've finished with it, I can teach you to fight if you want."

Caroline frowned.

"It might relieve some of your stress. I  _have_  lived with my brother for the vast majority of my life, and I know his weaknesses."

"Wait, wait…You'll teach me how to  _beat up_  your brother?" Caroline asked, half laughing, half hiccupping.

"Well I wouldn't go that far. I don't think  _I_  could beat up my brother. But, I can teach you how to put up a decent fight, especially since I doubt he'd actually ever hit you back."

"You'd do that?"

"Caroline, you do realize that you are literally the  _only_ person that I can interact with right now that doesn't spit up on my clothes whenever they open their mouth, right? I'm bored, you're angry, I can sympathize with your anger. It's that simple."

Caroline snorted, though it came out more like a sniffle. "Okay, so what do we need to do?"

Rebekah opened her mouth to answer, but there was a stream of cries and screams from the next room, and she walked away towards Hope, calling to Caroline that they'd talk later once she'd changed her shirt and Caroline had "washed the pout off."

* * *

Day 15

Her phone had been buzzing on and off for the last hour, but Caroline just couldn't find it in herself to move the five feet it would take to pick it up and answer it. She thought she had been exhausted three days ago, but back then she hadn't known the true meaning of tired.

And she was sure that two days from now she'd have an entirely new definition, because by then the gym would be set up enough for her to start working out. Finally finding enough motivation to move, she swung herself out of bed and picked up the phone to figure out who was bothering her at such an ungodly hour.

When there are babies involved, nine in the morning suddenly seems like the crack of dawn.

Elena's name flashed on the screen, and Caroline scowled and put it down, letting it ring.

Grief-stricken or not, Elena hadn't contacted her for two weeks. If it took this long for her to figure out that she was missing, then Elena could at least wait another hour for Caroline to shower. Two hours later, Caroline was sitting in the kitchen with Rebekah drinking coffee and watching her phone light up and buzz once every fifteen minutes or so.

She had to give her best friend some credit, Elena was nothing if not determined.

"You should answer that. She's clearly not going to stop," Rebekah muttered, standing up to wash out her coffee cup.

"What can I tell her?"

"Just say that you needed some time away."

"She'll ask where I am."

Rebekah gave her a sarcastic smile. "Tell her you're in New Orleans. My brother could always use more disposable minions."

Caroline bunched up a napkin and threw it at Rebekah, rolling her eyes when the other girl caught it and pitched it into the exact center of the wastebasket.

"Show off," Caroline mumbled, picking up her phone again.

She pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Caroline! Omigod, where have you  _been_? We've been looking for you and Stefan everywhere. Are you guys okay? Are you hurt? Why haven't you been answering my calls?"

Caroline blinked and tried to come up with an answer, but found that she didn't have one to give. She smiled a little about Elena automatically assuming that she and Stefan had run off together. Should she say that she wasn't with Stefan? It might actually be the safe bet to say that she was with him, since Caroline didn't know how to respond that she wasn't without making Elena go on a batshit crazy search for both of them.

She shot Rebekah a helpless look.

"Caroline? Are you there?"

"Yeah, sorry Elena. Look, I just…I needed some time away."

"You can't just leave us by ourselves Caroline. We need you."

"I'm sure you can get along just fine without me for awhile."

"No, we can't."

"Then why did it take two weeks to call me if you  _need_ me so much?" Caroline snapped.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Exactly. Look, I can't talk, Elena, I'm sorry."

"Can you at least tell me where you are?"

Rebekah snorted from the sink, and Caroline gave her an exasperated look.  _She'll hear you_ , Caroline mouthed. The other girl just rolled her eyes.

"I'm safe. That's all you need to know. I'll talk to you soon, Elena."

"But Caroline—"

Caroline ended the call and put the phone back. Predictably Elena called back almost immediately, and Caroline ignored the call and turned the phone off.

"Harsh," Rebekah said by the sink, smirking.

"She deserved it," Caroline muttered petulantly.

"I agree. I just hope that she doesn't start a manhunt for you."

Caroline shrugged. "She wouldn't get very far, we're under a cloaking spell."

"Yes, well, we also thought that she wouldn't kill my brother, and yet…" Rebekah trailed off, looking troubled.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry about that."

Rebekah shrugged. "Elijah thinks that he was resurrected in New Orleans at the same time as Mother and Father. He let it slip before we left. Although, I don't like thinking about it. I don't want to get my hopes up."

Hope started fussing in the other room, apparently having woken up from her nap, and Caroline motioned that she'd take care of it to Rebekah and wandered to the other room. She picked up Hope and began to softly speak to her while she carried her to the changing table.

Humming to herself, she finished cleaning up and lifted the baby up to her shoulder. She heard movement next door, and so she moved to the steps outside and then walked to go into the condo next door.

Rebekah had James come back and re-do the concealment spell to cover both condos, as well as their shared backyard, so that Caroline and Hope could wander around the area a little bit.

She entered the front room to find Rebekah carefully setting up a punching bag. Caroline bounced Hope on her shoulder slightly as she took the room in. She had been working on it for the past few days alone, but evidently Rebekah had gotten bored and decided to help. It would now most likely be done by the next afternoon.

The crib that Rebekah had set in the closet for storage (Caroline had no idea whether Rebekah had known they might need it later, or just made a habit of storing old items in closets for no reason) was set up in the corner so that they could keep an eye on Hope when they were both in the area.

Caroline set Hope down and then started working on finishing setting up the sound system, and she and Rebekah worked in companionable silence for awhile, both absorbed in their own tasks.

Hope started bawling again around the late afternoon, and Caroline took Hope to feed her while Rebekah checked over the list to see what they still needed.

After Hope had been fed and cleaned up, Caroline settled down to play games on her laptop. When Rebekah returned, she held out her hands wordlessly and Caroline passed her Hope. Rebekah immediately started chattering to Hope in French, and walked with her over to the baby toys in the corner.

"You know," Rebekah said as she held out a soft plush toy for Hope to observe and reach out to, "we should make a list of things we still need. I was thinking that we could get some picture books and read to her, or perhaps some television recording of children's programs. I know that they exist, but I haven't seen any of note."

"Sesame Street," Caroline suggested absently as she carefully lined up her Tetris blocks.

"Sure. Perhaps we should get some things to do as well. Babies listening to casual conversation is supposed to help their development."

"Like what?"

"I've always enjoyed Scrabble, and I'm sure that there are other games that have been invented more recently as well."

Caroline suspected that Rebekah had cited the study for the excuse to ask. Caroline knew that Rebekah had also felt slightly isolated, though perhaps not to the degree that Caroline felt. For better or for worse, they ended up stuck together, and Caroline had a funny feeling that this was one of those experiences that would be impossible to come out of on the other side without a close friendship.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she'd tack it into the 'good' column for now.

"Sounds good. There aren't very many board games that are fun with only two people, but if you visit a toy store, there will be lots of options. A deck of cards might be good, too."

Rebekah nodded, shooting Caroline a fleeting smile, and then went back to speaking to Hope in French.

By this point, Caroline had gotten a little more than a basic grasp on the language, but she still wasn't anywhere close to the level where she could understand everything Rebekah was saying. Hopefully, she would get the hang of it soon.

* * *

Day 19

"Put your weight behind your punches," Rebekah ordered, closely observing Caroline as she worked with the punching bag.

Caroline wrung her hands out for a moment, before trying again.

"Good."

"I'd like to stop now," Caroline said, breathing hard.

"That's probably a good idea. It's almost time for dinner anyway. Go take a shower, you stink."

Caroline rolled her eyes, but secretly agreed with Rebekah's assessment.

She locked the bathroom door behind her, started the water, and stripped, dropping her clothes carelessly on the floor next to her. The hot water soothed her aching muscles, and she felt a lot better now that she'd released a little bit of her anger.

Unfortunately, she still wasn't anywhere near calm.

One of the things she was the most proud of was her control. It was true that other people tended to see her intense need for control as annoying and unnecessary, but she'd always appreciated it for times like this. She was good at compartmentalizing and restricting her impulsivity, and that had served her well, especially during her transition.

Right now though, she felt a little bit out of her depth. She was controlling her anger well, and she certainly wasn't dangerous (the way  _certain_  vampires were when they were emotional), but she felt like she wasn't doing enough. The fact that she was having so much trouble suppressing her anger made her more irritated at Klaus. He had screwed up her self-control in a way that she did not appreciate in the least.

She wrapped herself in a fluffy towel and walked back to her room, still marinating in her own thoughts. She dressed and brushed her hair, idly thinking that she should probably go shopping again sometime soon—a girl can only wear jeans and blouses so much before she craves a good sundress—and sunk down on her bed, picking up her phone from the night stand.

She had kept it off since Elena called, and she knew that the longer she put off turning it back on, the worse it would be when she did. She took a deep breath and started it up.

The phone beeped for a good ten seconds, and the screen was filled with a huge list of missed calls, texts, and voicemails.

She had at least 70 total missed calls, 52 of which were from Elena, and the rest were from her mother, Matt, Tyler, and Alaric. Klaus had apparently left her a voicemail earlier that morning.

Everyone in Mystic Falls but Elena seemed to have stopped bothering with the voicemails after the second day of her phone being shut off, which Caroline was slightly thankful for.

She was slightly disappointed that Stefan hadn't reached out, but she knew that he was just taking some time of his own.

After mentally preparing herself, Caroline began to listen to the voicemails.

" _Why did you hang up on me? Are you really that mad that I hadn't called you? You know that's silly, Caroline. I wanted to call you, I just thought you were off doing your own grieving. Listen, you should call me back, okay?"_

" _Caroline, sweetie. Elena just came to the house asking where you were, and I realized that you hadn't been in touch,"_ Caroline felt her breath hitch at her mother's concerned tone,  _"If you need some time alone, that's fine, and I understand. However, I'd like to hear from you to know you're still alive…or as alive as a vampire can be, I suppose,"_ Caroline smiled at her mother's attempt at a joke,  _"I love you, and I hope to hear from you soon_. _"_

Elena's voicemails became progressively more angry and hurt as they continued, and after about halfway through Caroline decided to stop listening to them, as they all basically said something along the lines of, "You're being childish, and you need to come back to take care of everyone."

Frankly, she thought that she'd had enough of that whole "taking care of people" thing at the moment, and as unfair as it might sound, she firmly believed that Elena would be harder to deal with than the three-week-old baby.

" _Hey Care, it's Matt, I know you're upset right now, but we'd love to hear from you. If you don't want me to tell Elena you called, I won't. I know you can take care of yourself, but I want to make sure you're safe for my own piece of mind. Talk to you later."_

She would ask Rebekah about calling Matt. He was probably her safest bet in terms of keeping her contact to himself.

" _Care, it's me. Elena wanted me to call you to ask you to come back, but I have a feeling that all it will do is make you stay away. I know how you hate getting bossed around. So, I just wanted to make sure you're okay. See ya."_

Caroline rolled her eyes at Tyler's attempt at sounding casual. It was nice for him to reach out though, she supposed.

" _Hey Caroline, it's Alaric. I'm just calling to let you know that I have a new lead, if you're interested. There's a coven in Philadelphia that might have some information. I know that you're probably fine, but if you need anything you can always call. Stay safe."_

Caroline stared at the last voicemail on the list, contemplating if she should listen to it. It was more than three minutes long, a contrast to everyone else's thirty second maximum, and in the end she decided that she'd listen to it later. She wasn't quite ready to hear his voice.

Or his empty apologies.

* * *

Day 22

Rebekah hadn't mentioned Klaus once since the offer to teach Caroline to fight, and for that Caroline was grateful. She was currently on the exercise bike in the gym while she watched the DVD of an old season of Project Runway that Rebekah had picked up out of the bargain bin at WalMart.

The other girl was out right now, and so Hope was sitting in her crib at the side of the room while Caroline exercised. Hope began wailing near the end of the episode, and so Caroline turned the machines off and went to pick the baby up, talking to her while she went to fix Hope a bottle.

"And now I'm going to heat up your food, okay?" She narrated, sticking the bottle in the microwave.

Hope made a cooing sound, and moved her hands around a bit, causing Caroline to smile slightly. Soon, they were nestled on the couch together while Caroline read from A Very Hungry Caterpillar while Hope stared up at her.

Her phone started buzzing on the coffee table, and Caroline glanced at it, hoping that it was Rebekah calling to say that she would be back soon. They had run out of blood bags, and Caroline was starting to feel a little bit restless.

It was Klaus.

Deciding to ignore the call, Caroline continued reading to Hope, and soon the baby was asleep. Caroline set her down for a nap, returning to the living room to pick up the phone. This was Klaus's third call in the last few days, and it was much harder to ignore the voicemails he would leave. She couldn't help being curious, and she felt like she shouldn't be. But, Rebekah was gone and Hope was asleep. If she wanted to listen to them when she was alone and able to have a good cry if she needed it, now would be the time.

" _Hello, Caroline. I suppose you're not answering your phone. Honestly I wouldn't blame you for ignoring my calls if you are. I understand why you're upset, and you have a right to be. I'm sorry that I angered you, and I'd like to explain myself._

" _Hayley was simply a one-night stand. I was angry and jealous, and I do regret it. It was wrong of me to sleep with her, especially after what she did to you. At the time I had no idea that I had the capacity to reproduce. As you can imagine, it was quite the shock for me, and I initially didn't want it. The baby, I mean. Hope. Obviously that changed eventually._

" _The reason I didn't tell you when I attended your graduation was because at the time I was still undecided as to whether I would kill Hayley. I'm sure you have the look on your face that you tend to get when I do terrible things that you disapprove of, but in the interest of honesty I felt the need for full disclosure._

" _I'm sure you're wondering why I would offer you the ticket to join me in New Orleans if Hayley was pregnant, and the answer is because I knew you wouldn't take it. You weren't ready. I do hope the minifridge was an adequate replacement. You are most likely also wondering why I didn't tell you when I came to visit you in Mystic Falls when Katerina was on her deathbed._

" _My answer, though slightly unbelievable it may be, is that I was terrified. Of you. I didn't want to disappoint you, and I hoped that by the time you found out what I had done I would have a better explanation. Unfortunately, that seems to have been wishful thinking._

" _However, back to the topic at hand, there is a vampire called Marcel Gerard—you may ask Rebekah if you want more information about him beyond what I'm about to tell you—that took over the town after my siblings and I escaped from Mikael. The gist of the story is that when I arrived back in New Orleans, he was unwilling to hand back my empire. As I'm sure you understand, I couldn't allow him to remain in power._

" _A variety of life-threatening vents occurred, and though Marcel is no longer in power, New Orleans is currently a war zone because of a particularly dangerous group of werewolves. As you can imagine, this environment is not conducive to safely raising a child. To everyone here besides Elijah and I, Hope is thought to be dead._

" _Because the threat involves werewolves, and Rebekah knew of my affection for you—I don't know if I mentioned that she was siding with Marcel at one point or not, but she was—I was concerned that word may have gotten out about you, and that your safety would be compromised._

" _I asked Rebekah to take Hope to where you are now, and I made a snap decision and requested that she bring you as well. I know that you are angry, and you have every right to be, but I hope that this explains the situation a little bit more clearly, so that you at least understand why I had to do what I've done._

" _I'm sorry for my indiscretions with Hayley, I'm sorry for being dishonest with you, and I'm sorry for forcing you into the caretaking situation you are in now. However, I will never apologize for doing what is necessary to keep you safe. If I were able to go back in time a month, I would still ask Rebekah to take you._

" _I would rather you be angry with me for a thousand years and live than for you to love me in death."_

Caroline frowned and stared at the front screen of the phone, not quite certain how to feel about what she had just heard. She hit play for the second voicemail, which was much shorter.

" _Caroline. Rebekah refuses to tell me anything about how you're settling in, so I was hoping that I could speak with you. I suppose you are still angry. Again, I understand if you're ignoring my calls, but I just wanted to remind you to call me if you require anything, or if you have any questions…Perhaps even if you just want to talk, although I suppose that's out of the question at the moment due to your justifiable reaction towards my meddling._

" _I hope to hear from you sooner rather than later, but I again, understand if you are still angry."_

Caroline wiped the slight smile off of her face as soon as she realized it was there. She reminded herself that she was upset with him, and mentally prepared herself to stay that way while she listened to voicemail number three.

" _Hello, Love. I know that you aren't answering my calls, but I'd like to think that you're listening to the messages I leave you. I'm just calling to inform you that we've already had a small victory. We have slaughtered the werewolf clan that had been in power._

" _Unfortunately, those we killed seem to be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the group ruling the French Quarter of New Orleans. I am hopeful that we will regain control of the French Quarter by late fall. I can make no promises, however._

" _I am awaiting your call, but I am aware that it may take some months for you to feel comfortable communicating with me again. I can only hope that you will forgive me sooner rather than later._

" _Until next time, Sweetheart."_

Caroline sighed and dropped her phone into her lap, pressing her lips together. She hadn't forgiven him yet, but she wasn't quite as angry either. He seemed truly apologetic, but frankly, Caroline had always felt that the saying "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" was absolute bullshit, and this situation was no exception to the rule.

She had asked Rebekah whether she could call Matt the day before, and Rebekah had agreed, though she had cautioned Caroline again not to tell him anything important.

Caroline had been putting it off until now, still not quite sure what to say, but while she was in a brave mood, she felt like it was the right time.

The phone rang a few times before Matt picked up.

"Caroline!"

"Hey, Matt."

"How's it going?"

Caroline smiled at Matt's question. She had always appreciated his easy-going nature, as well as his gift to ask questions without it sounding like an interrogation, something she had never quite mastered.

"I'm fine, thanks. How have you been?"

"I'm doing okay," he replied, "The Grill is almost fixed, and I joined the local crime fighting organization."

Caroline laughed. "So, you're like a superhero?"

"Not exactly," He said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing good."

"Me too. Can I ask what you're up to?"

Caroline tried to figure out how to word her response, and Matt waited patiently, seeming to sense that she needed a moment.

"I'm…I'm just taking some time away. I'm safe, I promise. I get that you guys are worried about me, and I probably would be too if I was in your situation, but I just need some time to myself right now."

"Yeah, I get it Caroline, trust me."

"Thanks."

"Should I tell Elena you called?"

She sighed. "Tell Elena that I'll call you if I run into any problems, but that I really need some time away from the Mystic Falls drama. Oh, and tell her that it's my decision to cut myself off, and she has to respect it."

Matt snorted. "Little passive-aggressive there, Care?"

"Just a little."

He laughed. "Okay. Should I tell your mom anything?"

"Yeah. Just tell her that I'm safe, and that I'll call her if I can."

"Okay."

Hope started to make small noises in the background, and Caroline was thankful that Matt wasn't a vampire, so he couldn't hear it.

"I'm glad you're doing well, Matt. I really am. I have to go, though. Say 'hi' to everyone for me?"

"'Course."

"Thanks. Talk to you soon."

"Bye, Care."

Caroline put down the phone and checked on Hope, glad to see that she was just fussing a bit in her sleep. Smiling, she got out her iPhone and took a picture of the baby to show Rebekah later.

Caroline sank down on the couch in the living room and turned on the television. Rebekah came home about an hour later and wordlessly settled down next to her after she had put away her purchases, handing her a blood bag, and they watched crappy reality shows. They sat together contentedly, both keeping half an ear open for when Hope started to fuss, and Caroline decided that all things considered, it hadn't really been such a terrible day.


	3. Chapter 3

Day 25

Caroline threw punch after punch at the bag, trying to resist the urge to listen through the wall to Rebekah's Skype conversation with Klaus, and so far she was successful. However, she knew if it went on much longer she would start listening. She had already accidentally caught Klaus saying her name more than once, but she also heard Rebekah immediately change the subject each time, which she was thankful for.

About a half hour later, she realized that the sounds she had been so determinately tuning out had gone away completely, and she let her tired arms drop to her sides, breathing hard. She made her way to the shower, and by the time she was done the mirrors were completely clouded with steam. She was immensely thankful that they had air conditioning to make the humid summer air more tolerable.

When she entered the kitchen to grab a blood bag, pulling her wet hair into a ponytail as she went, she saw Rebekah sitting at the kitchen table, making faces at Hope.

Smiling slightly, Caroline flipped open the top of her blood bag and sank down next to Rebekah, sipping delicately.

"How was your workout?"

Caroline shrugged. "It was fine. How was your talk with the Original Douchewad?"

"It was fine," Rebekah said lightly, stroking Hope's face, "He wanted to know if there was anything we needed. I told him that if we did, we'd call."

Caroline hmm'd, throwing her blood bag in the wastebasket near the counter.

"He misses you, you know."

Caroline snorted. "Then he shouldn't have been such an asshole."

Rebekah shrugged. "I know you don't want to forgive him yet—"

"Rebekah, you  _promised_ to help me deal with this. Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"I am on your side," Rebekah said quietly, "That's why I think you should talk to him."

"Whatever," Caroline mumbled.

"Do you want to play Scrabble?" Rebekah asked, giving Caroline an apologetic look.

"Only if you're ready for me to kick your ass."

Rebekah snorted. "As if."

* * *

"That isn't a word," Caroline said crossly, inspecting the word that Rebekah had just made on the Triple Word Score square.

"Yes it is," Rebekah argued, "Look it up."

Caroline did, and unfortunately "Xiphoid" was a word. According to the Scrabble dictionary, anyway.

"So that's 20 points for the original word, plus an extra four because my H is on a double letter score…times three for the triple word score and that's 72 points."

Caroline stared numbly at the board.

"I hate you."

Rebekah laughed. "To be fair, I've most likely played a lot more than you have."

"But Scrabble was invented in the 1930s, so you were daggered. You wouldn't have had a chance to play until after you were un-daggered. I checked! God, I just suck at this."

"Caroline, I have literally spent the last nine months living with Elijah. Do you  _think_ he would let me get away without teaching me how to play Scrabble?"

Caroline snorted.

"But, yes, you do suck at it," Rebekah said, a too-sweet smile on her face.

Hope started screeching from the other room, and Caroline got up.

"You're so lucky that Hope has such terrible timing, Caroline."

"It's not like you wouldn't have beaten me anyway," Caroline said irritably over her shoulder.

Caroline decided that she'd take a look at the Scrabble dictionary later. If she was going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, she might as well use the opportunity to learn to beat an Original at Scrabble. After all, "losing" was not generally a word in Caroline Forbes's vocabulary.

Unless it applied to someone else, that is.

She picked up Hope and cuddled her, softly rocking back and forth, cooing at her softly. The baby was sniffling, but had calmed down considerably once she had been gathered up. By now, Rebekah and Caroline had Googled almost every possible question about one-month-old babies, and were both feeling reasonably confident about the next stage of Hope's life.

In three days, Hope would be one month old, and according to most of the websites, her sleeping schedule should become more consolidated sometime after two weeks from now.

She would never take sleeping through the night for granted again, that's for sure.

* * *

Day 29

Caroline woke up late feeling slightly depressed. It was Mother's Day, and she was planning on calling her mom today. For some reason that she couldn't pinpoint, she was dreading it.

Well, maybe she did know.

As soon as she heard her mother's voice, she knew that she'd want to tell her everything, and she couldn't. Her mom was human, so it would be a security risk.

And even though her mom wouldn't exactly win any mother-of-the-year awards soon, she knew what it was like to raise a baby, knowledge that no one else that she knew had. Caroline had always been a terrible liar, but she was determined to keep Hope safe.

And that meant she had to be kept a secret.

After a shower, a relaxing session of deep yoga breaths, and a morning blood bag, Caroline felt ready. She pulled out her phone (Elena had called twice since Caroline had contacted Matt, but she finally seemed to be backing off now), and dialed her home number.

Two rings passed before her mom answered the phone.

"Mom," Caroline greeted, her voice cracking.

"Caroline! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Happy Mother's Day."

"Thank you. How are you doing? I've been worried."

"Really, I'm okay. It's really nice to just be out by myself for a little bit. It's kind of…freeing."

"Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to Memphis," Caroline said, spouting off the first big city that popped into her head.

"What are you doing there?"

"I just felt like making it the next on my list."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

"Well," her mom said slowly, "You should tell me how it is, and maybe send me some pictures. If you'd like, that is. I'm glad to hear that you're doing well."

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked tentatively.

"Yes, I'm fine. Elena misses you, she asks Matt and I about you every day, but I understand why you don't want to have contact."

"Yeah," Caroline said quietly, feeling slightly guilty for her treatment of her friend.

"Mystic Falls is much quieter without the supernatural elements," her mom continued, "And I have a lot less work to do, so that's…nice."

Caroline restrained herself from laughing. She and her mother were more alike than either of them would admit out loud, and Caroline knew that the last thing her mother wanted was to have no work to do.

"It sounds like it."

They talked for about forty-five minutes about various things. Caroline asked more about how everyone was doing, and had reassured her mom that yes, she was tuning into the season finale for Once Upon A Time that night, and yes, she had read the spoilers that had been leaked about it.

Once they'd hung up, she walked to the Living Room, she saw Rebekah sitting on the couch with Hope in her lap, staring into space. Her eyes were red, and it only took Caroline a moment to realize that Rebekah had been crying.

Aware that she was at risk for getting her neck snapped, she tentatively sat down next to Rebekah on the couch.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

Rebekah shook her head. "Can you take her for a minute?"

Caroline took Hope from Rebekah's arms.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Caroline asked hesitantly.

Rebekah grimaced. "Not really, but you have to know."

Caroline frowned. What could make Rebekah cry that had to do with her? Was it Matt? No, if it had been Matt her mother would have known. Klaus? That was a possibility, but extremely unlikely. She snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that Rebekah was talking.

"And I know you probably don't care, but she was my friend. Sort of. I mean, we didn't always get along, but we ended up bonding about Hope, and I feel…terrible. My brothers never told her what happened to Hope…I guess it was a mistake to keep it from her."

Caroline didn't want to ask for Rebekah to start over, because then Rebekah would know that she hadn't been listening. From the context though, she could guess what happened. Sympathetic tears welled up in her eyes.

It felt intrusive to ask…As though she was crossing some kind of invisible line. But she the question passed through her lips before she had thought about the consequences. For some reason, she felt like she had to know.

"How?"

* * *

_New Orleans, three hours earlier…_

" _Brother?" Klaus heard Elijah calls from the other side of the mansion, but he didn't answer. Most of his conversations with Elijah revolved around one of two topics, his daughter, and the abhorrent and irritating mother of his daughter._

_Klaus had been in constant contact with Rebekah, and he was glad that Hope was adjusting well to the new situation._

_Every single time he thought about his daughter he felt his heart swell with an odd combination of affection and dread. He loved seeing her though, when he did call. Her eyes were all her mother's, but somehow even more vibrant._

_Hayley's eyes, especially lately, were dull with lack of any emotion. Whenever he saw Hope stare at him, all he could see was her wide, curious gaze. Sometimes, he felt as though his daughter was mirroring another woman's eyes…_

_Her eyes._

_According to some horrid web-source his sister had consulted months ago (that he had consulted himself days later in the utmost secret), babies mimicked the expressions of their parents. The thought that it was Caroline's face that Hope would be shadowing instead of Hayley's gave him a sense of satisfaction._

_And, not surprisingly, he felt absolutely no guilt about that satisfaction._

_Elijah was knocking on the door to his studio now, and Klaus put down the brush, having just finished dabbing at a smudge stuck to the representation of his daughter's round cheekbones on canvas._

" _Come in."_

_Elijah closed the door behind him and stood in his usual pose, stick straight with his hands clasped behind his back._

" _Have you spoken to Hayley recently?"_

 _Klaus snorted. "I go out of my way to_ not _speak to Hayley."_

" _I see."_

" _You've already 'seen' this phenomenon for the past year. I don't know why you still ask, to be perfectly honest."_

" _I was hoping…I apologize. I just cannot seem to locate her, and she's been rather difficult since Hope departed."_

" _Perhaps that would be because she thinks Hope isn't departed, but dead."_

" _Perhaps," Elijah agreed, nodding sagely._

" _Has she decimated another village?"_

_Elijah shook his head. "That was actually the reason for my inquiry. Nothing of that sort has occurred today."_

" _Why? Are you concerned that she should be out slaughtering hundreds of people?"_

" _No, not at all. It just seems unlike her."_

_Klaus shrugged, and Elijah sighed, turning around. "I will take my leave. If you do see her, Niklaus, please inform me at once."_

" _Of course," Klaus said absently, having already returned to inspecting the delicate fingers of the hands he had depicted holding his daughter._

_He hoped Rebekah would never see his paintings, because she would most likely be furious that she wasn't featured in more than one out of the twenty-two he had on canvases throughout the room in various stages of completion._

_Feeling restless, he inwardly cursed Elijah for ruining his concentration and got up from his stool, carefully cleaning the equipment he had been using, and prepared to go check on the witch that was supposed to be keeping an eye on the other witches in the quarter—keeping an eye out for Esther._

_He pulled out his phone and texted the witch, asking her to meet him near the cemetery in fifteen minutes._

_When he arrived, the witch was nowhere to be seen. He pulled out his phone to see if he had missed a text, when he heard someone approach. They were running fast, and he looked up to see the witch arrive in the clearing, completely out of breath._

_Klaus raised an eyebrow and was about to ask what had the witch in such a state (though to be truthful he didn't actually care), when the woman spoke. "The werewolf girl…The mother of your child…she's…she's dead in that mausoleum."_

" _I beg your pardon?"_

" _She's dead," The witch repeated, looking absolutely terrified (as Klaus was known for slaughtering the messenger)._

" _Is she?" Klaus asked, looking slightly surprised. "Well, that's unfortunate."_

_The witch looked completely floored by his reaction, before obviously deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth._

" _Come by the mansion at four. We'll speak then," Klaus ordered, pulling out his phone._

_He texted Elijah as he walked towards the mausoleum that had been indicated by the witch. If he were to be perfectly honest, he wasn't really all that fussed about the girl's death._

_At this point she had been doing more harm than good, and now that he had his daughter she was an unnecessary liability. When he arrived, he saw her body on the ground, a gaping hole in her chest. He tentatively walked forward to investigate, mindful that this might be some kind of trap, but when nothing happened he started towards her more confidently._

_Her hand was bloody, and her heart was lying a few inches from her fingertips. There was a note that had clearly been clutched in her hand. He picked it up and saw that it was addressed to Elijah._

_Of course it was._

_He slid open the envelope and pulled out the paper to see a short letter. He read it closely._

_Elijah,_

_When you asked, I lied. I wasn't healing. I couldn't take it._

_She was my only family. I know you said that you would protect me from your brother, that you were my family now, but let's face it, he was just waiting for an excuse._

_I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger for you._

_I do love you, though, you know._

_Happy Mother's Day._

_Klaus snorted at her closing sentence. His brother always did seem to fall for the dramatic ones._

_She was indeed correct; he had been waiting for an excuse. Her existence was superfluous, and his brother could do much better. He'd get over it, Klaus was sure of it._

_He was, however, slightly dreading telling Rebekah. She and the girl had developed an odd friendship. Though Rebekah vehemently contradicted him every time he said something of the nature, Klaus did truly want happiness for his sister._

_However, Klaus believed that she, as well as Elijah, should have higher standards for those whom she chooses to associate herself with._

_His brother finally arrived ten minutes later, and Klaus wordlessly handed him the letter Hayley had written. When he saw his brother's face as he stared at the girl, Klaus knew that he wanted to be alone with her._

_So he left._

_As he walked back to his car, he went over everything he had planned to do that day. He was to meet with the witch before dinner, he planned to do some research on the possession spell that he suspected Esther to be using, and he had wanted to call Caroline later that day to leave her another voicemail._

_Unfortunately, he would have to call Rebekah first instead, and then perhaps connect with Caroline later in the evening once he had time to gather his thoughts on the matter._

_Not his thoughts on the girl dying of course, that was already settled. He would just have to consider how to talk to Caroline about it._

_He expected that she'd be upset with him if he were to sound too callous about Hayley's death, but she also wouldn't appreciate his expressing too much affection for the wolf girl—which wouldn't matter, since he didn't have any—so he was unsure how to approach the subject._

_He did know, however, that if he hadn't called her by tonight she would be angry, even if she didn't pick up the call. After some prodding, Rebekah had revealed to him a few days before that Caroline had, in fact, been listening to his voicemails._

_He sighed as he pulled into the drive, trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. Caroline would most likely find out from Rebekah initially, and so that part would be over with. He'd just have to figure out something to say to her directly for the phone call later._

_He huffed irritably as he walked up the porch steps and walked to his study to contact Rebekah. Even in death, the werewolf never failed in complicating his relationship with Caroline._

_Why did his life have to be so hard?_

* * *

Portland, the present…

"Wow," Caroline said, for lack of a better term.

Rebekah nodded wordlessly. "I'd like to be by myself for a bit. D'you mind staying here?"

"Not at all."

Rebekah was out the door before Caroline had finished her sentence.

Caroline looked down at Hope, who was squirming in her arms, as though she could sense Caroline's discomfort.

Obviously, Caroline had strongly disliked Hayley for more than a few reasons. Now, however, she couldn't help but wish that she had been a little nicer.

It was a little late for that at this point, though.

Hope squirmed in her arms more animatedly and started fussing. Caroline gently laid across the couch on her back and propped herself on some pillows, and placed Hope on her stomach.

Hope's gaze—so much like her mother's—made Caroline's insides clench, and she suddenly felt herself tearing up.

Hayley hadn't been the best person. In fact, in Caroline's humble opinion, she'd been a pretty shitty person. However, bitchy or not, Hope deserved to at least know about her mother, even if she would never know her personally.

And just that thought made her heart break for Hope a little bit more.

"I'm going to tell you a little bit about your Mommy, okay?"

Granted, there were only two or three stories that she could spin positively to tell Hope without having to edit anything considerably, but she would still give it her Caroline-Forbes-110%-effort.

And she did.

Within reason, of course.

* * *

After an exhausting hour and a half of story telling, three hours of Sesame Street DVDs, and two read-throughs of Goodnight Moon, Hope was finally down for the night, and Rebekah still hadn't returned.

Every now and then Caroline would open her contacts and let her finger dangle over Klaus's number, but she always put it down again. She didn't want to console him over the death of the girl he betrayed her with.

At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

It had been half an hour since she had left Hope in her crib when her phone started vibrating, and she couldn't bring herself to be even slightly surprised that it was Klaus. She almost didn't even have to think about whether she'd take the call.

"Hello?"

"Caroline?" Klaus said from the other end, sounding surprised, and a bit smug.

"I heard about Hayley," Caroline said, immediately cutting to the chase, "I'm sorry."

"Her death was…unfortunate, and I'm sure that Elijah will miss her."

Caroline was sure that she had heard incorrectly.

"Seriously? The mother of your kid just  _died_  and you're calling it 'unfortunate'?" She demanded, feeling bizarrely affronted at Klaus's callousness on behalf of a woman that she absolutely loathed.

Klaus was silent for a moment. "Well, I'm not going to lie and pretend that I'm incredibly upset by it," he said.

 _Well, points for honesty_ , she thought dryly.

"Besides," he continued, "And I do hope that I'm not being too forward here," Caroline snorted at his words, "but I doubt that you'd want me to feel upset by it in the first place."

"Yeah, I guess, but you could at least be upset by it on your daughter's behalf."

"If Hope is any part my daughter, I'm sure she's already realized that Hayley's not worth her tears."

"That's a terrible thing to say."

"I suppose," he said carelessly.

"Like, seriously, I can't even  _believe_ that you're saying that."

"Caroline, love, while I am truly thankful to Hayley for bringing my daughter into the world, I was not fond of her as a person. In fact, I think the only person on the planet that was even remotely fond of her was Elijah."

"Rebekah liked her," Caroline pointed out.

"No. My sister liked Hayley's pregnancy, not Hayley herself."

Caroline wasn't sure whether she agreed, but she decided to let it go.

"Well, I'm glad that you're not torn up. If that's all—"

"Caroline, I didn't call to ask for your condolences."

"Oh? Well why did you call, then?" Caroline asked, even though she knew perfectly well why he had called.

"I wanted to speak with you."

"About?"

"Anything you wished to talk about."

"Let me guess, my hopes, dreams, and everything I want in life?" Caroline asked sarcastically.

"That about sums it up, yes."

"Well, if you really want to know, I  _hope_ that you figure out this stuff in your stupid town soon so that I can go home, I've  _dreamed_ of being able to go outside practically every day for the past month, and I  _want_ to leave."

He was silent for a moment. "I told you that I was sorry, Caroline."

"Well, sometimes 'sorry' doesn't cut it, Klaus."

"What do you want me to do, then?"

"Let me out of here," Caroline suggested irritably.

"You know that I can't do that, Sweetheart."

Caroline scoffed.

"Would you like an update on how the investigation is going?" He asked tentatively.

"Please."

"I believe that we've figured out what possession spell Esther is using. Though we still have absolutely no idea where Mikael is, Elijah and I both believe that it's only a matter of time before we track him down. Of course, we don't know how long that will be."

"Okay."

"However, we do hope to be done by late fall, as I said before."

"Okay."

"Is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable?"

"Can I go outside somewhere other than our ten foot square backyard?"

He was silent.

"Yeah, exactly."

"I'll see what I can do," He said quietly.

"Really?" Caroline asked, surprised.

"You know, Caroline, I'm not exactly locking you up for my own amusement. I do want you to be as comfortable and happy as possible."

Caroline hmm'd.

"Is there anything else?" He asked.

"Not really."

"Would you call me if you think of something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Excellent."

Hope started wailing, and Caroline grimaced.

"It appears that my daughter is craving your attention."

Caroline smiled, holding the phone to her ear as she approached Hope's crib.

"Yeah, she does that a lot. She's not all that particular about whether she gets Rebekah or me, though."

"How is she doing?"

Caroline rolled her eyes as she settled Hope into her arms.

"Doesn't Rebekah Skype you with her practically every other day?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I don't worry about her. Or you."

Caroline felt a smile stretch across her face, and she quickly suppressed it, though she couldn't help but notice how much more difficult it was getting to stay angry.

"That's good to know, Klaus."

Hope had quieted somewhat, but was making slight whimpering noises.

"Shall I leave you to it?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be best. Bye."

"Hold on a moment, Caroline."

"Hmm?"

"May I call you tomorrow?"

"You can call, but I can't guarantee I'll answer," She said cheekily.

"Fair enough," He said. She could practically hear the smile come onto his face.

"Good night, Klaus."

"Talk to you soon, Sweetheart."

* * *

Day 34

Caroline settled down on her bed to watch a movie on her laptop. It was early evening, and Rebekah had offered to watch Hope for a bit so that Caroline could have some time to herself (supposedly as a repayment for letting Rebekah disappear for nearly 12 hours on Mother's Day without any contact). Caroline suspected that the other girl was simply trying to keep busy to keep her mind off of her dead friend, but she wouldn't intrude.

Settling on a fantasy-romance movie that came out a few years before, she settled down to watch with a blood bag. She couldn't help but check the clock every few minutes, though she mentally scolded herself every time she did so.

Since Mother's Day, Klaus had called Caroline every evening. She felt ashamed for looking forward to the calls—in fact, she kind of wanted to claim it was Stockholm Syndrome, since he was technically her captor, but that was bullshit—but that didn't stop her from answering them.

Sure enough, about an hour into the movie, Klaus called her.

"Hey."

"Hello, Sweetheart."

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his endearment, and he shot her a dimpled grin.

She had been trying so hard to stay angry (and she still was, kind of), but he was wearing her down.

He seemed to know it, too.

"How's everything?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Mostly the same. Elijah's coping."

"Good to hear."

There was a comfortable silence for a moment, before Klaus spoke again.

"I have some good news."

"Do you?"

"Yes. You told me that you've been feeling a bit cooped up, and so I have taken the liberty of organizing a way for you to go out for a bit."

Caroline resisted the urge to point out that if he wasn't being such an ass she would be able to go out whenever she wanted, as it probably wouldn't be the most productive line of conversation.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I have contacted the witch Rebekah procured—James—and he has agreed to do a short-term cloaking spell on you."

"What does that mean?"

"For a certain amount of time, witches will not be able to locate you using a spell. People will still be able to see you, so you'll need to be especially careful, but you should be able to get some shopping done."

"How long will it last?"

"Probably a good 12 hours or so. Enough for a whole day."

She beamed at him.

He asked her about how she was getting along with Hope, and she obligingly told him all about the Sesame Street marathons. They talked for about half an hour before someone called to Klaus from off-camera.

"I'm sorry Love, but I've got to go. I'll call you tomorrow."

"If you must," she said, sighing melodramatically.

"Talk to you soon, Sweetheart."

* * *

Day 35

It was eleven o'clock, and Caroline had been ready to go outside for the past two hours. She had spent the first hour after she woke up practically bouncing off the walls in excitement, but Rebekah had irritably informed her that if she continued to do so she would be compelled to sit on the couch quietly.

As Rebekah generally followed through on her threats, Caroline stopped.

Now though, she was on her laptop looking through various online stores trying to find ideas. The opportunity to buy an entirely new wardrobe was too good to pass up, and she intended to get the maximum amount done in the short timespan she would have.

She became so absorbed in her work that she was almost surprised when Rebekah tapped her on the shoulder, a phone held to her ear.

She told the other person on the line that Caroline would be wherever it was momentarily, and then pushed a credit card into Caroline's hand and practically shoved her out the door, pointing her in the direction of the front gate.

James was waiting, and he gave her a wide smile. "Hello, Caroline."

"Hi, James."

"Can you squeeze some blood into this for me, please?" He asked, holding out a goblet.

She did so, and he muttered some words in Latin.

"All done," He said cheerfully.

She thanked him and headed to the mall.

Five hours and three trips to her car and back later, Caroline got drive-thru McDonalds (she had been craving salty food, especially since she hadn't had more than a meal or two of human food since she arrived in Portland) and drove back to the condos.

She spent the next hour or so putting all her purchases away, bringing some out to show Rebekah, who ooh'd and ahh'd appropriately.

It was really nice, she thought, for Klaus to go out of his way to do something like this for her. She still wasn't all that happy with him, but he was definitely trying to make up for it.

Before she could think better of it, she pulled out her phone and texted him a simple "thank you."

The response came almost immediately. "Anytime, Love."

For the first time since she had arrived in Portland, Caroline fell asleep with a smile on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

Day 40

"Which grimmoire were you looking at when I found you?" Rebekah asked, as they sat on the living room floor with Hope.

"It was one that Alaric found in an old bookshop. Apparently the shop owner thought that it was a weird cult book that had no value, and so he gave it to Alaric for like, twenty bucks."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure."

Caroline went to her room and found the grimmoire in her dresser, before returning to the living room and handing it over. Rebekah opened it and flipped through. "I don't know if you know this, but before I was turned I was a witch."

Caroline shook her head.

"I know a lot more about the art than Elijah and Nik, as neither of them had the gift. Kol…Kol was my only sibling with magic. Anyway, I know a lot more about what witches can handle and what they can't."

"Oh. Okay."

Rebekah continued to flip through the grimmoire for a few minutes, closing it when she was done. "I don't think this has anything helpful," she checked the inside cover, "I've never heard of the line, so it's probably not one of the more powerful ones. My personal collection of grimmoires is hidden in Mystic Falls, so they're unavailable. It's probably a long shot, but do you know any other witches besides Bonnie?"

Caroline considered this for a moment. The only witches she knew were dead, but she had a strange feeling that she did know something, but it was escaping her.

It clicked abruptly, and she smiled.

"Actually, yes. Unfortunately, their grimmoires are in Mystic Falls as well, but they have a huge collection. Or they did, before Damon killed them. I don't know if it's still there. Their house, I mean."

"Who?"

"The Martin family. Bonnie's ex, Luka, although I don't think she'd call him an ex, but whatever. His dad Jonas collected them. I bet that they're still there if no one's picked them up."

"So that's two giant collections of grimmoires in a completely inaccessible place. Fantastic."

"We could always call someone and have them get them."

"Like who?" Rebekah asked.

"Matt would," Caroline said quietly, aware of Rebekah's feelings towards him.

"Probably," Rebekah said, biting her lip, "but I don't know how he would get them here."

"Is James trustworthy enough to get them?"

"Actually, yes. And James could just get them himself. There's no need to involve Matt at all. Where is the Martin house?"

Caroline didn't know. She told Rebekah as much, but then suggested that James could pretend to be a relative of theirs and talk to Caroline's mother. Rebekah seemed to be open to the idea.

"So, can I ask you a question?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes and gave her usual response. "You just did."

Caroline gave her an exasperated look. "No, seriously."

Rebekah nodded.

"I mean, don't answer if it's too personal or anything, but why is James so trustworthy? Like, you're risking a lot of information to him."

Rebekah was silent for a moment, apparently deciding whether to answer.

"Well," she said slowly, "I suppose the short answer is that we're friends. Hey, don't look at me like that. I am actually capable of fostering meaningful relationships with others."

"Sorry, sorry. I know."

Rebekah sighed. "I met him when he was twelve in 1813. I saved him from a tricky situation with a vampire."

"Wait, James is two hundred years old? That's  _insane._ "

Rebekah shrugged. "Witches—and warlocks now, I suppose, gender equality and all—can live for a very long time. Silas and Qetsiyah were practically ancient. Either way, I saved him from a tight spot, and then helped him develop his powers. He travelled with Nik and I for about fifty years, and we became very close."

She huffed when she saw Caroline's expression. "Not  _that_ kind of close. Anyway, he contacted Nik when he heard that I was daggered, and James apparently travelled with him for quite a few years to make sure that I wouldn't get dropped in an ocean or something. When I was undaggered, I visited him in Chicago, and we reconnected. It was lovely to see him again. He moved to Portland a year and a half ago, which is part of the reason why I chose to live here with you and Hope."

"Oh. But how is he supposed to go to Mystic Falls? Won't he lose his powers?"

"Only while he's in the bubble."

Rebekah and Caroline discussed the plan for a few hours, taking a break or two to make sure that Hope was comfortable, and then Rebekah called James, and Caroline called her mother to tell her about his upcoming arrival.

"He's trustworthy, I promise," Caroline said into her phone.

"If you say so," her mom grumbled, apparently wary about an unknown supernatural coming to Mystic Falls, even if he would only be there for a day.

"Just figure out where the Martin house was and give him the address, okay? Oh, and call me when he leaves."

"I know, I know. Have you called Elena back yet, by the way?"

"I'll stop calling you if you ask me that every time," Caroline threatened half-heartedly.

"She misses you."

"I miss her too, but I feel like she'll just try to convince me to come back. And I'm not ready for that."

"She might surprise you," her mom suggested gently.

"Maybe," Caroline grudgingly agreed.

"I'll call you in a few days, okay?"

"Alright, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Caroline."

* * *

Day 45

It had been about a month since Caroline had started using the gym to work out, and Rebekah apparently thought that she was ready to start practicing against a real person.

However, once Caroline was standing across the mat from an Original vampire, she wasn't so sure that she agreed.

"Will you stop looking at me like that? I'm not going to rip out your spine and feed it to you, you know," Rebekah said irritably.

"Sorry, fighting you is just kind of intimidating."

"Well, I need to talk to you before you start throwing punches at me, anyway. Not to be offensive or anything, but you have no idea what you're doing. You've been a vampire for, what, two years?"

"-ish."

Rebekah nodded. "All right then. So I'm sure you've had enough time to figure out that you can still feel pain, correct?"

Caroline gave her a "do-you-think-I'm-an-idiot" look. "Yes. I've only been tortured five hundred billion times."

"I'm just trying to make a point. Just because we heal quickly doesn't mean that injuries don't hurt. It's true that we, my siblings and I especially, have an extremely high pain tolerance. However, that doesn't mean that it's not possible to cause enough pain to be a distraction so that you can snap a neck."

"So, basically I should cause you enough pain all at once to force your guard down so that I can snap your neck?"

"Your talent for stating the obvious is unparalleled. If you do get close enough today, which you won't, I'd like to kindly request that you don't snap my neck. It's a safety hazard."

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Are you ready?'

"Yeah."

"Go ahead."

They both just stood there.

"Caroline, in order to fight you do actually have to at least attempt to physically assault your opponent."

Caroline whooshed in front of Rebekah and punched her in the nose. Or, at least, she attempted to, but Rebekah caught her fist. "That was pathetic."

"Well, how am I supposed to do it?"

"I assume that you know what the most sensitive parts of the body are, correct?"

Caroline nodded.

"Don't go for your opponent's nose. It might work on humans, but vampires will realize what's going on too quickly. You want to aim somewhere that they won't automatically protect."

"Like where?"

"Knees or ankles are both good options."

Caroline nodded and then backed up to put some space between them again.

"Whenever you're ready," Rebekah said.

Caroline pasted a nervous look on her face.

"Goodness, Caroline, how do you expec—Ouch!"

Caroline smiled triumphantly as Rebekah snapped her kneecap back into place.

"I should have expected you to do that," She grumbled.

"Sorry," Caroline said, smiling unrepentantly.

"No you aren't."

Rebekah bounced on the balls of her feet. "All right, that whole distraction thing might have worked on Nik multiple times, but it won't work more than once with me, so you're going to have to figure out some other way."

They practiced for about an hour and a half. For all that Caroline was appreciative that Rebekah didn't go easy on her, she felt incredibly drained at the end. "You can have the first shower," Rebekah offered.

"Thanks."

She had no idea how Rebekah could possibly manage to have worked out for as long as she had and not break a sweat. Though the other girl was in workout clothes, she looked like she'd been inside relaxing in the air conditioning all day, whereas Caroline felt like she'd just run a marathon in ninety-degree weather.

* * *

After her shower, she was left alone with Hope while Rebekah took a shower of her own and then ran some errands.

By this point, Hope could move her arms around and Caroline had to be more careful about tying back her own hair (not because Hope was grabbing it on purpose, but because it was way too long for Hope to not pull it by accident). The baby had also started occasionally making eye contact for a few seconds at a time. Caroline sat on the floor, watching Hope flail a bit while lying on her stomach. Hope could move her head up a little bit too, and Caroline would often hold out toys and let Hope touch them.

After about twenty minutes, Hope started bawling, and Caroline reluctantly did a diaper change and tried to remember if Rebekah had given Hope a bath in the past few days. She didn't think so.

So far, there hadn't been any formal split-up of tasks (and Caroline doubted that there ever would be), and one of the girls usually took care of whatever came up in the moment and then texted the other one to make sure that there wouldn't be repeats.

This had come about after the second week when Hope had two baths in one day.

Caroline quickly checked her phone to make sure Rebekah hadn't texted her in the last few days about baths—she hadn't—listened quickly to another message from Elena—Caroline had been meaning to call her back, really, she had—and then set Hope carefully on the floor while she prepared the tub. She set two large towels on the floor to prevent splashing—that lesson had been learned the hard way—and then filled the tub up to the level suggested by the three different parenting sites Rebekah had consulted obsessively before every one of Hope's "firsts."

Caroline had just lowered Hope into the tub when Rebekah came home. "Oh, are you giving Hope a bath? I've been meaning to."

"Yeah."

Rebekah set the shopping bags on the floor and immediately pulled out her iPhone. "I've been meaning to ask you to film it, but I suppose I could do it."

"Film it?"

"Yes. I was thinking the other day that it must be hard for Nik and Elijah to know that Hope's going through so many stages of her life, and I saw this television program where a mother was making home videos of her son, so I decided that we could make some of our own for my brothers."

Caroline privately thought that it was unlikely that Klaus or Elijah would care about a bath of all things, but decided not to rain on Rebekah's parade. It was a good idea in general, anyway, and it wasn't like she really had any business interfering in the way Hope was raised.

She often felt like a live-in nanny. She wasn't Hope's mother or a part of the family, so she tried to not make any significant decisions about Hope without consulting Rebekah first. She had become very attached to Hope though, and she wasn't sure how she would feel about returning to Mystic Falls once Klaus let her out of the safehouse.

Realizing that Rebekah had the phone pointing at them and was most likely recording, Caroline carefully lowered Hope into the tub, where the baby began screaming immediately. Caroline had anticipated the splashing, so she had worn some older clothes and tied her hair back.

Hope was not fond of baths.

She supported the baby's head and followed the parenting directions to the letter, carefully sliding the water around Hope and narrating what she was doing the entire time. Hope never stopped screaming, and Caroline was sure that Rebekah would have to turn the sound off in the video.

"Now we're going to shampoo your hair. I'm putting a little bit of shampoo in my hand, and we're going to massage your hair so that it's all clean. And then, I'm going to dry you off and then after we're done we'll binge watch the second season of Friends with Auntie Rebekah, who very kindly bought the DVD for me."

Rebekah snorted from behind the camera, which made Caroline grin.

She pulled Hope out of the bath and deposited her onto the towel, starting to dry her off carefully. Rebekah moved closer, still pointing the camera at her, and Caroline rolled her eyes at her. "Can you get the camera out of my face?"

"No. Don't worry though, I'm on your good side."

Caroline laughed slightly, and when she looked down at Hope again, she realized that Hope had smiled back.

Rebekah had clearly seen it too because she squealed.

"That's her first smile! Look at that face," Rebekah cooed, coming closer and tickling Hope on her tummy, causing her to squirm, "See? It's a good thing that we're filming this!"

"I never said it wasn't."

"You were thinking it though, I could tell."

"Maybe," Caroline said, shrugging.

Needless to say, the second season of Friends was completely forgotten and rest of the day was spent trying to get Hope to smile again. Rebekah snapped at least thirty pictures of Caroline doing silly things to make Hope smile.

Caroline could tell that Rebekah was texting them to someone (and she knew perfectly well that Klaus was that someone), but she didn't comment. Klaus might as well get pictures of them now while he still could. She kept having to remind herself that when they left she would return to Mystic Falls, or at least the border of it, and Hope would go back to New Orleans.

Even though she felt a tiny lurch in her stomach every time she thought about it.

* * *

Day 49

Caroline was playing peek-a-boo with Hope when her phone rang. She handed the baby off to Rebekah, who had just finished retrieving the grimmoires from James and was flipping through them, and checked the caller ID.

It was Elena (again) and Caroline sighed to herself knowing that she might as well bite the bullet, and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Care! It's great to hear your voice!"

"Yeah, sorry. I've been busy."

The excuse sounded pathetic even to her own ears, and she winced.

"Busy ignoring my calls, you mean?" Elena asked, though she sounded more hurt than angry.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I just haven't wanted to talk to anyone. I know it's been hard for you, and it's been hard for me, too."

"I know you're not with Stefan, you know."

Caroline winced. "Yeah."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't."

"But you didn't tell me you were alone, either."

"I just didn't want you to worry."

"Oh yeah, because hearing from Ric that Stefan's in Atlanta doing god-knows-what with a local car repair shop while you claim to be in Memphis wasn't worrying at all."

"I'm sorry. I just…"

"Needed some time alone," Elena finished for her.

"Yeah."

Hope started fussing, and Rebekah shushed her. "Is that a baby? Caroline, why are you with a baby?"

"I'm outside in the park right now. There's a woman with a baby on the park bench next to me," Rebekah rolled her eyes at her, and Caroline grinned, "now she's staring at me, I guess she heard me talk about her."

Elena laughed. Rebekah left the room with Hope, presumably to put her down for a nap.

"So, tell me about Memphis."

"There's not much to tell, really. I left yesterday, and I'm just stopping along the road."

"Where are you headed now?"

"I'm not sure."

"Look, I know that I've been kind of pushy—" Caroline snorted "—Okay, fine,  _really_ pushy, but I'm just worried about you, you know?"

"Yeah. I'm worried about you too. How are you coping?"

"Well…I miss Bonnie."

_And not Damon?_

"I do too, Elena."

"I just…She always knew what to say…" She heard Elena's breath catch on the last word, and Caroline felt a lump form in her throat.

"I just miss her so much, and she's…she's never coming back."

"I'm working on it," Caroline said, her voice cracking.

"What if you can't find anything? What if she's just  _gone_?"

"I don't know, Elena. I don't know…"

She felt tears fall down her face, and Rebekah, who had apparently returned, poked her on the shoulder and shoved a box of Kleenex in front of her face. Caroline shot her an exasperated look, but took one.

"And how are you feeling about…about Da—"

"I'm fine," Elena said, her voice suddenly cold.

_Clearly a touchy subject, never mind._

"Okay," Caroline said hesitantly.

"Just let me know if you find anything, okay Caroline?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Talk to you soon, Care. I love you."

"Love you too, Elena."

Caroline put her phone down on the table, and sniffed quietly and stood up. Rebekah gave her an appraising look and then pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll find a way, okay?" She said quietly.

Caroline nodded. "I know."

"Good," Rebekah said, suddenly businesslike, "We're turning one of the bedrooms in the other condo into a library for all of these," she gestured to the huge boxes of grimmoires stacked in the corner of the living room, "and I need help moving them."

Caroline nodded, and they got to work.

* * *

Day 50

"Hello, Love."

Caroline, who was bundled up in her bed with her laptop balanced on her knees, smiled softly at her laptop screen where Klaus was smiling at her.

"Hey. How's everything going? Anything new?"

"Elijah and I believe that we have located a witch that may be able to assist in finding Esther. Elijah also seems to believe that Kol and Finn are possessing witches in the area, but I think it might be wishful thinking. My brother has always been rather obsessed with the concept of family and togetherness."

"Is there a spell to figure out if someone's possessed?" Caroline asked curiously.

"No. Otherwise we'd be using it," Klaus said. From anyone else it would have come out as condescending, but Klaus just sounded matter-of-fact.

"What about the Traveler knife?"

"That can only be used for that one specific spell, which was Traveler magic. The witches here use Ancestral magic."

"But wouldn't it be possible to see how the knife is constructed and then try to duplicate the spell, but modify it for a possession spell?"

Klaus considered it for a moment. "I'd have to talk to a witch about it. Unfortunately, magic isn't exactly scientific. You can't just take a spell and change the words and suddenly it does something slightly different. In addition, there are at least fifteen spells that can be used for possession, and I'm sure that there are some I don't know about."

"So it's a stupid idea…sorry…"

"No, actually. You could be onto something. I just have to speak with one of my witches. Do you know where the Traveler knife is, currently?"

Caroline frowned. "I think it's in Mystic Falls somewhere. Maybe in the boarding house."

Klaus grimaced. "All right. I'll send someone then, I suppose. On a different note, How are you?"

"I'm doing fine. Hope is smiling now, and Rebekah and I took some videos."

"Yes, Rebekah keeps me updated on Hope. I want to know about you."

Caroline scoffed. "I have a feeling that Rebekah already tells you pretty much everything."

He shrugged, but wore a dimpled grin. "Perhaps, perhaps not."

"What a traitor," Caroline mumbled.

"Did you get the DVR?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's pretty great. I've been able to record all of my shows now. We've also been keeping Sesame Street and a few other kid's shows."

"May I ask what you've been watching?"

"Why do I have a feeling that you already know?"

He grinned, but stayed silent.

"Well, I've been basically obsessed with Once Upon A Time, but the season finale just came out, so I don't have anything to watch for that, sadly. So You Think You Can Dance just started up. Oh, and Cake Boss. Umm…I didn't the chance to keep up with it because of all that was going on earlier in the year, but I think I'm going to watch last season of Survivor. It just ended like, three weeks ago."

"You watch  _Survivor_?" Klaus asked, apparently somewhere between incredulous and amused.

"Yep. It's my guilty pleasure show, everyone has them," Caroline defended herself, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I actually watched the first few seasons of that when it was good, but it got boring quickly."

"You  _would_ watch Survivor."

He shrugged. "People stuck on an island manipulating others and then later betraying them, what's not to like?"

Caroline grimaced. "I actually like the competition part more."

"You mean the challenges?"

"Yeah. And watching them deal with the elements."

He scoffed. "You do realize that it's a television show, right, Sweetheart? It's practically all scripted. If they were alone for a month with no hygiene supplies the women wouldn't have shaved underarms would they?"

She snorted. "Really? That's how you figured it out? You noticed that the women don't shave their armpits?"

"Well, that and the fact that they use the same clips of the 'scary' wild animals every time. I think I've seen that same rattlesnake that they always use at least fifteen times now."

Caroline threw her head back and laughed. She didn't know why she thought it was so funny, but knowing that Klaus—Practically invincible one-thousand-year-old Original Hybrid and mass murderer—watched reality television made him seem almost human.

Almost.

"Did you watch that season, then?"

"No. Even if I had wanted to, I was also rather busy for the past few months," he pointed out, and then grinned, "If you would like, I can watch it with you," he suggested.

She raised an eyebrow. "You'd really do anything to spend time with me, wouldn't you?" She asked dryly.

He gave her a dimpled smile. "Does that mean yes?"

She huffed, but nodded.

"I won't wait for you, though," She warned, "You're going to have to block out about five hours every day for the next few days after I find it online, and if you're not there I  _will_ watch it without you."

"Deal," He said instantly.

* * *

Day 52

"Caroline?" Rebekah shouted from the library, "I think I found something."

Caroline hopped off the elliptical, a little breathless, and walked into the room to find Rebekah on the floor with Hope in her lap holding a grimmoire.

"Really?"

"Mmhm," Rebekah said, holding out the grimmoire to show Caroline, "Look."

"I can't read Latin."

"Oh, right, I had forgotten," Rebekah said snidely.

There was no way that Rebekah had  _forgotten_ that Caroline didn't know Latin, but in thee interest of moving along the conversation Caroline didn't bother to point it out.

"It's a linking spell between dimensions. This is one of the Bennett grimmoires, by the way. In any case, I think that the spell is one of the ones Qetsiyah used to create the Other Side. Since it's a linking spell I'll need to figure out what other ones she used, but once I do that—"

"What's a linking spell?" Caroline interrupted.

"Well, just as there are many different kinds of magic, there are also different kinds of spells," Rebekah said, falling into what seemed to be a lecture-mode, "In both Traditional and Traveler magic, there are two general categories; simple and complex. A simple spell, like a locator spell for example, is usually a one-sentence incantation or less and requires only one or two reagents, if any. Complex spells are made up of a combination of simple spells and linking spells, linking spells being a sort-of glue that links the simple spells together, but for a spell as large as the one that created the Other Side, it is likely made up of a set of complex spells linked together. Are you with me so far?"

Caroline nodded.

"Excellent. So, this is a linking spell, which means that there are at least two complex spells that make up the ritual, although I would bet that there are at least five."

"Why five?"

" _At least_ five," Rebekah corrected, "and that's because I have some guesses as to what three of them might be. And, since the number of spells in the larger rituals are usually done in multiples of five, not including the linking spells, of course, it would make sense for there to be two more."

"Why are the big rituals in multiples of five?"

"Pentagrams," Rebekah said distractedly, "And if I were her I actually probably would have used ten. Or fifteen if I was really motivated," she muttered to herself.

"I'd say that she was pretty motivated," Caroline said dryly.

Rebekah made a humming sound that Caroline took as an agreement, handed Hope to her, and started pulling down a few more grimmoires from the shelves.

"Can you take Hope for a bit?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Sure," Caroline said, picking up the baby, "Let me know if you need any help."

"Actually," Rebekah called, causing Caroline to turn around, "I could use your help. Nik told me about your idea with the dagger, and I actually think it has some merit. As I said before, he's slightly hopeless about magic when there isn't an actual witch to consult. Anyway, it would be lovely if you could find anything about item enhancements or possession."

Rebekah started pulling down books and putting them into a pile separate from the one she was making for herself. "Okay," Caroline agreed, "let me just feed her really quick. I'll be right back."

Rebekah didn't answer, seemingly already absorbed in her task.

* * *

Soon, Hope was settled on top of Caroline's stomach as she laid on the floor reading one of the grimmoires. It was getting late—Hope had gone through two bottles and a nap already—but she was almost done with the books Rebekah had picked out. Three of them seemed completely useless to her, but she did set aside four that had mentions of enchanted battle weapons and one that had a spell for an item you could use to possess an animal (though she honestly couldn't think of very many practical uses for that).

She picked up the last book and started reading. Or, rather, she started decoding. Different families had different ways of keeping their records. Some families would write explanations and reagent requirements in their native language with only the spells in Latin, others would write the entire grimmoire in Latin, and some fell in-between.

Opening the grimmoire, she was happy to find that it was mostly in English, with the incantations and reagent names in Latin, and she started reading. She found the grimmoires interesting, even when they didn't have anything useful, and soon enough she felt a weight being lifted off of her. Putting the book down, she saw Rebekah carrying Hope away. "I'm putting her down for bed. We should probably be done for today. My eyes feel like they're about to fall out."

"All right."

Rebekah came back a few minutes later to find Caroline almost done putting the grimmoires away (she had cleared off a shelf for the grimmoires that they found useful and another for the grimmoires that didn't have anything helpful in them). They each had a blood bag for dinner, and then Caroline got a text from Klaus.

_Are you ready yet?_

She frowned.  _Ready for what?_

_Survivor_

* * *

"Caroline, love?"

"Hmm?"

They had just finished episode four, and Caroline was getting tired.

"Are you still angry with me?"

"A little."

He sighed. "I expected that."

She shrugged. "You'll just have to give me some time, I guess."

"Well, I did tell you'd wait for you."

"Yeah, and then you slept with Hayley."

"Yes. I did. And it didn't mean anything," He said slowly.

She got the feeling that he was trying hard to reign in his temper, but she wasn't sure why.

"I feel like you're mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm just a little bit irritated."

"Why? I feel like  _I'm_ the one who has the right to be irritated here."

"Do you, really?" He asked, suddenly looking angry.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, have you ever though that it might not be fair to me?"

"Fair to  _you_? You didn't tell me about her when you came. You slept with me knowing that I didn't know."

"That's true, I did. Because I'm selfish, and I wanted you, and I knew you wouldn't want me if you knew."

"Exactly. You can't just lie to people like that, Klaus."

"You didn't need to know."

"Didn't need to know? It's  _Hayley._ "

"We weren't  _together_ , Caroline. You loved someone else and Hayley was willing."

"You couldn't have picked someone else? Anyone else?"

"Yes, I know, she's not a very pleasant person, and you both loathed each other, but she's attractive and I'm not blind. It was a one-night stand. It didn't mean anything then, and it never will. I won't lie to you, I'm glad that it happened because now I have Hope, but she never could hold a candle to you."

"Do you expect me to believe that, too?"

"Don't you think you might be being a bit unreasonable, Caroline?"

" _I'm_ being unreasonable?"

"Yes. You're being unreasonable. I love  _you._ I want  _you. You_ were my first choice that night.  _You_ didn't want me. I fucked her because you wouldn't let me make love to  _you._ "

Caroline blinked.

"Oh."

The other end of the line was silent. "Klaus?"

There wasn't any response. She frowned, and tabbed over to Skype.

He had hung up on her.


	5. Chapter 5

Day 58

"I think I found something," Caroline said happily, turning the grimmoire around to point out the page to Rebekah.

The other girl scanned it quickly and then shook her head. "I don't think that's the one she used. Traveler magic is a sort of…mutation of Traditional magic. Obviously all magic is from the same place, and every branch can be practiced by any witch—although it's very difficult to switch to a different school of magic, as was evidenced by your friend Bonnie's experience dabbling in Expression—but that doesn't make them the same thing. Traveler magic almost never uses reagents, and if they use the elements it's almost always only water, which, by the way, is the most volatile magical element."

" _Water_ is the most volatile element? How?"

Caroline had been learning a lot about magic in the past week. Rebekah seemed excited that someone wanted to learn about it—apparently anyone she usually spoke to was either completely uninterested or a witch themselves—and so she took relish in explaining all the properties and intricacies of the objects and spells that they were researching.

Honestly, Caroline found the whole subject incredibly interesting. She knew that Rebekah had a lot of knowledge about the subject, and she wanted to learn as much as possible before they parted ways.

"Fire, air, and earth have rather constant states. Fire can slightly vary in temperature, but, at least with natural fires which is the kind witches use, it generally has most of the same properties no matter what started it or what it's consuming. Similarly, air and earth both have the same base properties. Air can go faster or slower, be harsher in temperature, or have less oxygen, but it stays air, just as earth has varying qualities as well.

"However, water comes in many forms and temperatures. Snow and ice themselves vary drastically in consistency and temperature, even though they're either just cold or frozen water. Water also can fluctuate between harsh currents and calmness. Obviously there are more reasons, but that's the bare bones of it."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Rebekah made a hum of assent. "Right. As I was saying, Traveler magic barely uses reagents and if they use an element at all it's almost always water. They make up for the lack of power source by using very long incantations. Qetsiyah was a Traveler witch, so she wouldn't have used a ritual with so many components unless she adapted it to make it compatible with Traveler magic, which is completely possible, of course. Why don't you mark the page and we'll put it on the 'maybe' list."

"Sure."

They continued to work in silence for awhile, taking breaks when Hope got hungry or tired, and by that afternoon they had finished all the grimmoires on the top two shelves of the first bookcase. It was slow going, but Caroline knew that they would find something useful sooner or later.

"So, I talked to my brother yesterday," Rebekah said casually, tickling Hope on the stomach.

"Oh? How's Elijah doing?" Caroline asked, peeking over the top of the grimmoire she was reading.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "That wasn't the brother I was talking about, Caroline, and you know it."

Caroline shrugged. "Okay, well, I'm glad that you're keeping in contact with your family."

"He's rather irritated with you."

"Is he?" Caroline asked with mock interest, closing the grimmoire to pick at her fingernails.

"Yes. And I can see where he's coming from."

"Oh, can you? So you're taking his side?"

Rebekah scoffed. "There are no  _sides_ Caroline. I think you're right."

"Good."

"And I also think he's right."

" _What_?"

"Look, you have every right to be angry about both the manner in which he treated you in Mystic Falls and the way he addressed the situation when he asked me to bring you here. However, and I do mean this kindly, Caroline, Hayley was a bitch, but you weren't with him at the time. He didn't cheat on you."

"But—"

"And I know that he promised you all these things, and that he told you that he loved you—and just to be clear I  _do_  think he loves you—but sex and love are not mutually inclusive. He wanted release, and she was willing to give it to him. Neither of them anticipated the pregnancy because neither of them knew it was possible. I'm not saying it was one of my brother's best decisions, nor am I saying that Hayley is a wonderful person. All I'm trying to say is that I think that you're angry for the wrong reason. In my opinion, anyway."

Caroline was silent, her thoughts racing. She had a right to be angry about anything she damn well wanted. Maybe she was a being a tiny bit irrational, but she should be allowed to be, should she? He had  _lied_  to her.

She realized that Hope was fussing and Rebekah was picking her up to put her in the crib for a nap.

When the other girl arrived back, Caroline had her nose buried in the grimmoire but wasn't reading, still lost in her thoughts.

"Caroline?" Rebekah said softly.

"Hmm?"

"Nik didn't just call because he wanted to talk about you."

Caroline made a humming sound, only half paying attention.

"Do you know what next week is?"

"Umm… Hope will be two months old this week."

"Yes, there's that. But do you know what next Sunday is?"

Rebekah seemed to be trying to get at something that she wasn't comfortable saying out loud. Caroline raised an eyebrow. "What, are we playing twenty questions now?"

"It's Father's Day."

"That's nice. I'll make sure to leave you and Hope alone for the day so that you can call your brother."

"That won't be necessary," Rebekah said, looking mildly uncomfortable, "He's visiting."

"Seriously?" Caroline asked, her emotional roller coaster going from zero to sixty in half a second, "That seems suspiciously like he found an excuse to come here."

Rebekah shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Be glad that I warned you."

" _What_?"

"Well, I spent half of yesterday trying to decide. I had a feeling that if you knew you would find some way to fashion an escape route."

It appeared that Rebekah was getting to know her too well, because her mind was already halfway through planning out how to barricade herself in the library. Rebekah must have read her face, because she scoffed.

"Called it."

Caroline just rolled her eyes and announced that she was going to watch the newest episode of So You Think You Can Dance, and that if Rebekah was done talking about her current least favorite person in the world, she was welcome to join her.

* * *

Day 63

Rebekah, bless her heart, had realized that Caroline was incredibly bored. You could only learn so much French in one day, as Rebekah had pointed out in the first few days in the safehouse, and there was nothing to do.

So far, Caroline had gotten a lot better at Scrabble and had also learned that Rebekah was absolutely hopeless with strategy games like Stratego and Othello. After Caroline's five straight Othello wins the week before, Rebekah had declared that she would never play it again.

So, Rebekah left on a mission today, leaving Caroline alone with Hope, to find another game to bring back to play—because really they were getting a bit desperate at this point—and she brought back a Wii and a Playstation 3, as well as Risk (which Caroline suspected was meant to be used when Klaus came over). Caroline raised an eyebrow as she watched Rebekah excitedly set everything up, reminding Caroline about six times in an hour that she had been daggered for the development of these and that she was incredibly excited to try them.

Caroline decided to humor her.

"What do we have?" Caroline asked, assuming that Rebekah had bought three games. Rebekah sped back to the car and came back with two full shopping bags, before dumping them out on the floor.

They eventually decided on Mario Kart, and Rebekah had just plugged it in when Hope started wailing. Caroline picked her up, tossing Rebekah a reassurance over her shoulder that they'd be back in a minute, before going to the kitchen. Hope was fed quickly, and Caroline set her next to them on the carpet, tickling her a little before turning back to the television.

Rebekah turned on the system and there was a huge unexpected burst of sound, which made Caroline and Rebekah jump, and Hope start wailing.

The second Hope started screaming, there was a cracking sound and the Wii broke clean in half.

"What the  _hell_?"

While Caroline was staring at the Wii, Rebekah picked up Hope and shushed her, a huge smile on her face.

"Why are you smiling? We just had an electronic device spontaneously  _break_ and you look like you're about to meet Taylor Swift."

"Hope just had her first sign of magic!" Rebekah crowed excitedly, cradling Hope in her arms, who was still sniffling.

Rebekah shushed her quietly, rocking her slowly, and sat down on the couch.

"I have to call James. Here, hold her for me."

Rebekah rushed out of the room to get her phone, and Caroline looked down at the baby, who stared back at her. "You're Auntie Rebekah is nuts."

"I heard that!" Rebekah called from down the hall.

* * *

Day 65

Caroline sat on the living room floor with Hope in her lap reading a children's book to her. Hope wriggled around, seeming completely oblivious to the fact that her caretaker was practically ready to bolt any second.

She smiled a lot now, and whenever it happened Caroline felt a little tug of joy in her chest.

The only things Caroline knew about the day were that Klaus wouldn't turn up until the early afternoon and that Rebekah would be setting up the spare room next to the library with an air mattress just in case he stayed the night.

The reason that she had so little information was because she hadn't allowed Rebekah to get out more than five sentences total about her brother in the past week before she left the room.

Not that she had tried after the second day of Caroline abruptly walking out at any mention of Klaus.

Unfortunately, the three repeats of A Very Hungry Caterpillar, two episodes of Sesame Street and nap passed by too fast, and Rebekah soon returned from the airport with Klaus, who—after being yelled at by Rebekah for not taking his shoes off at the door—was immediately directed towards Hope's room. Caroline put down the grimmoire she had been "reading" and turned to Rebekah. "How was his flight?"

"You should ask him that," Rebekah said, smiling slightly.

Caroline shrugged. "I'd rather not talk to him if I can help it."

Rebekah rolled her eyes and plopped down on the couch, waiting for her brother to come back. When Klaus entered the room again, he had a wriggling Hope carefully settled in his arms, and sat down on the couch next to Rebekah. Hope was crying, and Klaus looked rather confusedly down at her.

"Why is she crying?"

Rebekah shrugged. "She might need a change, here, give her to me."

Rebekah took Hope from Klaus's arms and almost as soon Klaus let go Hope stopped crying. Caroline and Rebekah looked at each other and then back at Klaus, who looked confused and a little hurt by his daughter's reaction to him.

"She probably just doesn't recognize you," Caroline said quietly, "She's never met you before as long as she can remember."

"Why don't you play with her for a bit? Maybe she'll get used to you." Rebekah suggested, laying Hope down on the living room floor and reaching for a soft toy, which Hope flailed about trying to grab.

She handed the toy to Klaus, who looked a little lost as to what to do with it, before tentatively reaching out to Hope to offer it to her. Hope simply wriggled around, not even reaching for the toy, but staring at Klaus, which caused him to smile.

Caroline fished through the giant basket of children's books in the corner and brought over Green Eggs And Ham and handed it to Klaus. "You should read to her," Caroline suggested, "I'm going to go to the gym for a bit."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow at her, and looked her pointedly up and down, the " _You're exercising in a babydoll dress?"_ question perfectly clear in her expression.

Caroline just shrugged, knowing that exercising was not at all on the agenda (hiding, on the other hand, totally was), and went next door, glad she had the forethought to move her laptop in there. She settled down and started to watch a movie, laying back against the pillows she had arranged.

* * *

About an hour into the movie, she heard the door open and close and looked up to see Klaus entering the room.

"Rebekah took her to the backyard for a bit," Klaus told her, answering her unasked question, "She said that babies need time outside to unwind."

 _More like Rebekah wanted to force her and Klaus to talk_.

He sank down next to her and sighed.

Caroline, who had never been good at sitting through silences, cracked first.

"I don't understand," Caroline said in a small voice, "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Tell you about Hope, you mean?"

"Yes."

He seemed to think about it for a moment. "Well, as I said in my voicemails, when I attended your graduation I still wasn't completely decided on whether or not I would kill Hayley. By then she had already attempted to abort Hope once—that I know of, anyway—and I wasn't sure that it would be worth keeping her alive. However, Elijah was insistent that I allow Hayley to live."

"You still should have told me when you came to Mystic Falls."

"I didn't want to disappoint you."

"And it didn't occur to you once that I would find out on my own? That I would be  _even more_ disappointed when I didn't hear it from you?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't one of my best decisions," Caroline snorted at his words, "but I honestly also didn't want you caught up in the violence in New Orleans."

"And so you thought that keeping me completely ignorant was the best thing to do?"

He shrugged. "I didn't know what else to do. I don't know if you've noticed Caroline, but I'm not exactly an expert on caring about other people."

"I've noticed," Caroline mumbled.

He gave her a serious look. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Nothing at the moment."

"I understand."

They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I'll wait for you, you know. If you need time," He said quietly,

"Yeah, Klaus, because that went so well last time you tried it," she said irritably.

"I've waited a thousand and twenty-three years for you, Caroline."

She scoffed. "By that, I assume you mean you've been waiting your entire life."

"Yes."

"That might actually be the most cliché thing I have ever heard. Like, really. Ever."

"Cliché as it may be, it's not any less true."

"You've known me for like, two and a half years, if that, one of which we've spent apart. You can't just say things like that."

"I just did."

"You're infuriating."

"And you're perfect."

She rolled her eyes. "See, and that's why. You say nice things and draw me pretty pictures, but you don't have a single specific thing to say to me, do you? You just spout off the generic compliments hoping I'll fall into your arms and pledge my undying love to you. Well newsflash, buddy, it's not going to happen."

He turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently turning her to look at him. She shook off his hand, but maintained eye contact.

"You're right." He said, simply.

She blinked, confused, and a little offended. He sighed.

"You're fearless, Caroline. Brutally honest…Smart…I wouldn't be surprised if you figure out half of the save-Elena puzzles before your merry little band of friends. You're not afraid of me. You make me laugh."

She was honestly rather unimpressed by his speech. "Am I the only woman you've ever known that has all of those traits? Because I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no."

"Yes, you have traits that many other women have. Yes, there might be other women who aren't afraid, or that make me laugh. But they never came into my life at the right time. I felt this...this instant connection with you. I've waited all my life for someone like you, Caroline."

"I feel like you're about to spout off something about how I'm made for you."

"No. You weren't made for me. I was made for you."

She raised an eyebrow.  _Seriously?_

"You are such a sap."

He grinned. "Perhaps a thousand years too early, and I've never believed that there's such a thing as events that are "meant to be." But you, Caroline, you're special. I don't think you make me want to be a better person consciously. If I was given a choice, I believe that I would choose to stay a monster. You do it naturally. I am a better person, whether I want to be or not, because of you."

She just gave him an exasperated look and then turned away from him.

"That's bullshit."

"How so?"

"It's not like you're suddenly going to turn into a cuddly teddy bear if I give into you."

He snorted. "Certainly not."

Not that she'd really want him to, anyway. She liked him the way he was. Mostly.

"So yeah, bullshit reasoning."

"Does anyone really know why they fall in love with someone?" He asked.

She shrugged half-heartedly.

"I don't think I need a reason, really," he continued.

Caroline was silent for a few moments, before huffing out a breath of annoyance.

"I don't know how you come up with things like that. Last loves and calling me  _radiant_  and telling me I'm  _full of light_ …And now that I'm  _special_  and that I  _make you a better person_ … Do you just, like, sit in your room all day and make this up?"

"On occasion."

She gave him a sideways glare at his joke before standing up and turning to look at him. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to pull, here. But I am not falling for it. You hurt me. You lied to me. You made me feel like I wasn't enough. And frankly, I've had enough of that in my life thanks very much."

"I'm not trying to ' _pull_ ' anything, Caroline. I'm trying to tell you how I feel, which, by the way, is not something I know how to do very well."

"Well, you should have done that when you had the chance, Klaus. Because I don't know if I can trust you anymore."

He scoffed and stood up as well. She flinched away from him, which caused him to frown. "It's not as if you've ever trusted me anyway. Half of the time you spent with me you were trying to distract me so that your friends could  _kill_ me. If one of us were to have trust issues, it should be me."

"So then why do you claim to love me? Is this revenge against my friends, or something? Because it didn't work, all it made them do was stop trusting  _me._  They all pretend not to look at me differently, but they do, Klaus," She said, raising her voice steadily.

"No. It's not a trick. If I had a choice, do you think I'd love you? That I'd care about you? Because I'd like point out that all it's brought me so far is disappointment," His voice matching hers in volume.

"Then don't."

"I  _can't._ And I don't think you want me to stop, either. Do you want me to be brutally honest with you, Caroline?" He asked, advancing slowly towards her, "I think you  _like_ this. You  _like_ having this control over me. It makes you feel powerful. I think you're afraid that I'll replace you…that someday you won't be good enough and you'll lose that feeling.

"And unfortunately for me, I am apparently stuck on you. So, congratulations, Caroline. You got what you wanted. I won't let you go. It. Won't. Happen." His voice was booming now, reverberating off of the walls, and his eyes were flickering orange every few words, letting her know that his control was about to snap.

She stared at him in surprise for a moment, before cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes, knowing it would bait him. "I'll believe it when I see it."

The next second Caroline found herself crushed between Klaus's lean muscled body and the wall of the make-shift gym, their lips connecting in fiery toe-curling kisses.

He was consuming her, his blunt teeth scraping across her lower lip, his fingernails scratching the back of the tops of her thighs that were peeking out under the seam of her dress, the white marks she knew he was leaving prickling in the most pleasurable way. He cupped her ass and yanked her up slightly so that his jean-covered thigh rested between her legs, and she knew that she should feel guilty, but she couldn't— _wouldn't_ —feel guilty about this, she  _refused_ to even  _consider_ feeling guilty about this, because all she wanted to feel right now was the tightness between her hips, the roughness of his jeans rubbing against the cloth covering her dripping pussy, and his hands holding her tightly against him like a lifeline.

He pulled away, staring at her with dark lustful eyes. His lips descended down to her neck leaving hot open-mouthed kisses, and she couldn't restrain the moan that escaped her. She felt him smile against her neck and he had clearly thought that he'd won.

And she couldn't have that, could she?

She pushed him off of her, the sudden motion allowing her to obtain control of their movements, and she rushed them into the opposite wall so that he smashed into the wide mirror, causing the panes of glass to crack behind him. She pressed herself against him, rubbing his hard cock through his jeans causing him to groan. Cupping his face in her hands, her fingernails scraping across his cheeks and through his stubble, she yanked him down so that they were nose to nose.

"Do you know what it was like to find out that you had slept with her?" Caroline hissed, eyes narrowed, trailing her fingers down his neck, "To know that you  _lied_ about it?"

He opened his mouth, his eyes dilated with pure lust and want sending a stab of arousal straight through her, but before he could speak she silenced him with her lips, biting him hard enough to draw blood. She gripped the collar of his Henley. "Am I going to find out later that you fucked another girl? That you lied to me again?"

She ripped it down the middle, laying her palms against his chest. "Are you telling the truth? Am I the only one now, Klaus?" she asked, trailing her fingers up to grip his shoulders, her nails leaving half-moon marks deep in his skin, "Will I be  _your_ last love?" She asked, a slightly mocking tone in her voice.

His fingers dug into her hips and she found herself flat on her back on the sparring mat, Klaus's fingers hooking around the waistband of her panties, and she immediately gripped his wrists to stop him and flipped them over so that she was straddling him. "Will I?" She asked again, gritting her question through her teeth.

"Yes," he said hoarsely, his eyes boring into hers.

She fused her lips back onto his, and pulled away.

"Good."

He smirked and pressed her against him again, grasping the neckline of her dress.

She pushed his hands away and pulled back, flush-faced and breathless, pulling off her sundress in one swift movement. "You are  _not_  allowed to ruin another piece of my clothing."

He smirked and his hands made quick work of tearing off her panties, slipping two fingers into her dripping pussy. There was nothing soft about his movements, nothing gentle, and she buried her head in his shoulder and moaned at the hard thrusts of his fingers, parting her legs wantonly to allow him better access. He curled his fingers  _just so_ to hit that spot that made her convulse, almost bringing her to her peak, when he cruelly withdrew.

She made a small whining sound at the loss of contact and glared at him. "Tease," she mumbled while she deftly unbuttoned his jeans, almost tearing them off. She moved off of him slightly to slip her fingers under the waistband of his boxers and wrap her hand around his shaft, squeezing slightly, and then letting go to scratch his shoulders, shivering as his hands danced up her sides to her breasts, his fingers leaving a trail of her juices. He flipped them over, and started peppering kisses along her collarbone, biting and licking and  _marking_ her, rubbing her already hard nipples and then taking one in his mouth. She moaned and threw her head back, her hair spilling around her, her lips parted slightly. He looked at her with heavily lidded eyes and she arched her back, encouraging him. He scraped her chest slightly with his blunt teeth, and she tugged on him gently to pull his lips to hers again, sucking the breath away from him, their tongues wrestling for dominance. She hooked her legs around him, and his hands found their way under her body, cupping her ass, pulling his hips down to grind himself against her, just the thin layer of his boxers preventing his cock from plunging into her slick folds. He swore softly and pulled off his boxers, positioning himself over her, and roughly thrust into her, both of them moaning at the sensation. He gripped her hips as he took her, and she almost enjoyed watching him groan her name out through breathless gasps more than feeling him slamming inside her to the hilt, bringing her closer to her orgasm with every thrust.

"Bite me," He ordered, his voice raspy, his hips ramming into her roughly, "I want to see you come with my cock filling you while you drink from me."

She obliged, the veins darkening under her eyes as she pierced the sensitive skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, her fingernails grasping at his back, filling her with satisfaction knowing that she would leave marks on him, his sweet blood filling her mouth.

She didn't think she had ever tasted anything quite as addictive as Klaus Mikaelson.

The electric pleasure from the Klaus's cock filling her, pulling her down so that he was buried in her as deeply as possible with every thrust and the thick delicious taste of him on her tongue made the tightness she felt in her belly abruptly snap. She came hard, her walls clenching around him, and he kept thrusting into her as she rode out her orgasm to find his own release.

They laid there for a few moments, breathing shallowly, until Rebekah practically hammered on the door.

"If you're quite finished, I need to put Hope down for bed, and I can't do that when you're causing an earthquake."

Caroline pushed him off of her and put her sundress back on, mindful of the wetness dripping down the insides of her legs, and glad that she had picked a dress with a built-in bra, before walking towards the door.

"Caroline, love?" Klaus called from behind her.

She turned to him. "Hmm?"

"Forgive me?"

She made a show of thinking about it for a few moments while he pulled on his jeans—the only item of clothing he had that wasn't in pieces—and then when he looked up at her, she shrugged at him.

"I'll think about it," she said, sauntering away.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***IMPORTANT NOTE***  
> This is a slightly emotionally heavy chapter. Slight trigger warnings for rape/dub-con. There are NO direct flashbacks, but there is a mention. If you are a Damon-lover (or an Elena-is-flawless-er), you will NOT like this chapter. You have been warned.  
> For the inevitable stream of people who think that what Damon did doesn't qualify as "rape," I encourage you to look up the definition in the dictionary and tell me where Caroline gave her full and informed consent every single time without threats that were either mental or physical.

Day 125

Caroline walked into the kitchen and grabbed a blood bag from the fridge, an extra spring in her step.

"So, I think we had an earthquake last night," Rebekah said casually.

"Really?" Caroline asked, feigning innocence before taking a sip.

"Yeah. Or maybe you were just  _forgiving_ my brother again. You seem to be doing a lot of that these days."

Caroline threw one of the frozen teething rings at the other girl knowing she would catch it, and Rebekah gave her a teasing smile.

"Shut up."

"You know, it's been almost two months already, I would think that you two would be winding down…But no, I have to go bother James for more enchanted sage every few days, which he gives me endless shi—p, I swear I was going to say ship," Rebekah insisted at Caroline's glare and significant glance at Hope, who was lying in her reclined high chair watching the conversation with interest, "endless  _ship_ for every time."

Caroline gave Rebekah her best innocent-cheerleader-look and took her last sip from her blood bag before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash. "Would it make you feel any better to know that it's excellent phone sex?"  
Rebekah made a face. "Well I definitely can't un-hear it now. Thanks for that. But in all seriousness," Caroline snorted at Rebekah's attempt at a stern look, "we should think about moving your bed to the other condo. Even though Hope has no idea what's going on, it still makes me incredibly uncomfortable."

Caroline winced. "Yeah, that probably would be better. Just so you know, he said that he and Elijah might have an idea of who your mother is possessing, and they want to talk about it with us today. He said he'll call us around two o'clock."

Rebekah nodded as she picked Hope up from the high chair. "Well, that's an interesting subject for pillow talk."

Caroline huffed.

"I think I might have a better idea of how to nullify a possession spell, too. I was researching it yesterday while you and Hope were playing. I'd have to talk to James about it, but I think I might be onto something," Rebekah said.

"Great! What did you find?"

"Well, Esther is a Traditional witch, so often the rituals are linked to objects, like a daylight ring, for example. I think she's using an object to anchor her possession, which has to be worn by the vessel. If they can find that object then they can remove the spell."

Caroline nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder what she'd be using."

"Esther has a flair for the dramatic. Remember the ball? There are about fifteen different ways she could have done that about a thousand times more easily. She just wanted to make a statement. My guess is that the object would be something symbolic and important. I'm also positive that she picked a witch. There's no way she would have settled for a human, and she dislikes vampires too much to use the—ouch!"

Rebekah started gently trying to wrestle her hair out of Hope's chubby fist. Hope was gurgling and wriggling around, apparently amused by the reaction she'd caused. "Auntie Rebekah doesn't like it when you use her hair for a toy," Rebekah scolded, finally succeeding in getting Hope to let go.

"I can take her if you want to go talk to James," Caroline offered.

"Sure, I suppose."

Caroline sat down on the floor with Hope in her lap, pressing buttons on a small keyboard that lit up and made high pitched noises (that were apparently supposed to be musical notes, but Caroline was convinced they were recorded from screeching doors closing), and letting Hope randomly bang her arms down to make the keyboard light up.

Caroline loved this part of her day, when she could spend time with Hope, and watch her face light up in giggly baby smiles.

It wasn't just with toys, either. Rebekah had never seen the majority of the children's movies that Caroline took for granted as a child ( _Hello_ , Beauty and the Beast?), so they had been going through them. Caroline knew that Hope had no idea what was happening, but she seemed to enjoy the music and voices, so they were happy to watch them.

Hope was also close to sitting up by herself. Though she was exactly on schedule with her pre-talking and social skills, she was definitely precocious in terms of physical skill growth, and Caroline suspected that it had to do with her supernatural abilities. Vampires had excellent balance, and though she and Rebekah weren't sure how her vampire and werewolf abilities would manifest (seeing as she hadn't triggered either of them directly), they had by now figured out that she was much more fussy during the full moon (which was consistent with her werewolf gene) and had much better balance and upper body strength than the average four-month-old baby. Her teeth were also coming in earlier, and even though normally the lower teeth grew in first, she had tiny canines poking out of her top gums.

Though Caroline hadn't brought the subject up with Rebekah, she knew that it would come up sooner or later: Hope was overdue for every single doctor's appointment and vaccination that she was supposed to have had. Because they had no idea how "human" Hope actually was, Caroline was concerned that she would get sick and infect those around her, especially once she was in school.

Unfortunately, Hope and Caroline were trapped in the house, and there was no way to go to a doctor without causing an Original meltdown unless she asked Klaus or Rebekah.

She continued playing with Hope, letting her wrap her tiny fist around Caroline's fingers or hair and pound the flashing keyboard enthusiastically. She put Hope down on the floor and got up to grab a blood bag, and watched Hope's gaze follow her into the kitchen.

When she came back, Hope was again trying to prop herself up on her arms, but fell down again and started to whimper a little bit until Caroline pulled her back into her lap.

Caroline plucked the grimmoire she had started that morning off of the top of the coffee table and put The Lion King in the DVD player. She tried to read the grimmoire, but eventually was too distracted by the movie, and set it down to sing along softly with the music and rock slowly with Hope in her lap as a sort-of mini dance.

Rebekah came back to Hope's babbling while Caroline sang along softly to Hakuna Matata. Caroline turned to the other girl, still rocking a wriggling Hope. "What did you find out?"

Rebekah let out a breath. "Well, James says that he'll check on it. He thinks that I'm right about the object and that I should tell Nik, just so he can be on the lookout. He also told me that we should be helping Hope control her magic bursts, and gave me some ideas."

Since the "Wii Incident," Hope had three more bursts of magic. Only one of them was violent—the bathtub had exploded into at least ten pieces when they had tried to give her one the day before the full moon—but the other two had been much more benign.

In one incident, she had "rescued" her pacifier from the sink, where Rebekah was washing it, causing it to jump out of her grip and whizz by her ear right into Hope's mouth, and the other was somehow pulling an empty bottle out of the cabinet and hitting Caroline over the head with it until she grabbed the formula out of the cupboard.

Rebekah still broke down in hysterical giggles at the memory.

"James is willing to pick up a Levibear for her, so we'll just use that."

"What's a Levibear?"

"It's basically a stuffed animal enchanted to levitate when the baby touches it until she summons it back. I had one when I was a child, as did Kol."

"So, I was thinking about something, and don't get mad, but I think we need to talk about it."

"What is it?"

"I think we should take Hope to the doctor."

"Why? She's not sick, is she?" Rebekah asked, looking genuinely confused.

"No, no. But we don't know how like,  _human_  she is, and I'm worried that if we don't get her the vaccinations that she needs or the early pediatric checks that something will go wrong later. It can't hurt."

Rebekah seemed to consider it for a moment. "We'll talk to Nik about it later when he calls. It should only be about half an hour, right?"

"Yeah, should be."

* * *

"Well, Elijah thinks that Esther is possessing a young with by the name of Cassie. Unfortunately, we have no proof and it would cause too much tension in the quarter to simply capture her. Even if it wouldn't, we have no idea how to stop the possession spell."

"I might have an idea about that, actually," Rebekah said.

"Oh?"

"From our research, I think that the spell is probably anchored to an object, similar to a daylight ring. If you can destroy the object, you can destroy the spell."

"We'd have to find out if she has anything she wears all the time. I'll have someone tail her. In addition, however, Elijah is also now absolutely positive that our brothers are possessing witches as well. Mikael's location is still unknown."

Rebekah nodded as though she had expected this.

Caroline sat next to Rebekah with Hope in her arms trying to work up the nerve to ask him about the doctors' appointments.

"Davina is becoming an increasingly more worrying thorn in our side. Elijah and I believe that she needs to be disposed of, but unfortunately we're not sure how to do that without antagonizing Marcel."

Rebekah shrugged. "Let him be antagonized."

"It's not that simple, Rebekah," Klaus said irritably.

Caroline had a feeling that they had already had some version of this conversation countless times through the years.

"Either way, we'll figure out something, we always do."

He was preparing to hang up when Caroline spoke.

"Klaus…"

"Yes, Love?"

"I'm worried that Hope might need a doctor's appointment."

Klaus wore the exact same confused expression Rebekah had, and if Caroline weren't trying to be serious she probably would have found it funny.

"Why?"

"Well, I was telling Rebekah earlier…Hope isn't necessarily immortal, is she? We don't know whether she'll have to trigger her vampiric or werewolf abilities in some specific way, and until we do I think we should get her the immunizations and checks just to be on the safe side."

"That would require leaving the house." Klaus said slowly.

"Yes."

"Absolutely not."

"Klaus, what if Hope gets sick because she didn't get her shots? Or has some sort of health problem that we could have prevented?"

"Just feed her vampire blood."

"Has anyone ever cured a baby with vampire blood?"

Klaus shrugged.

"Exactly," Caroline said crossly.

"No, Caroline."

"But—"

"No."

"Look, I know she's your daughter and I shouldn't have a say in how she's raised—"

Klaus frowned. "Of course you do."

Caroline decided not to comment on that for the moment, but filed it away to think about later. "Right, well, I think it's important. Maybe James could put some sort of tracking spell on us? We could do something with our appearances? I just think it's important Klaus."

She threw in the puppy eyes.

"You have to have the appearance and location altering spell, bring Rebekah and go to a private clinic,  _and_  compel the memories of everyone afterwards, do you understand?" He said, looking resigned.

"Yep."

"Good. I'll call you later with more information about our findings with Esther."

"All right. Goodbye, Nik."

"Bye, Bekah. I'll talk to you tonight, Love?"

"Of course," Caroline said, smiling and picking up Hope's hand, "Say 'Bye' to your Dad, Hope."

Hope gurgled and flailed her limbs around, and Caroline didn't think she had ever seen such a genuine and bright smile on Klaus's face.

Once they had hung up, Rebekah turned to her. "We should get started on figuring out where to go."

Caroline nodded.

* * *

Caroline had just hung up with Klaus for the night and was settling in for bed. The earlier conversation about Hope had been odd for her. Klaus had said that she had a say in Hope's upbringing as though it was obvious. What did  _that_  mean? Did he expect for her to stay with them in New Orleans after the war was over?  _Could_  she do that?

It was true that she had gotten attached to Hope, and it felt odd to imagine a life without her, especially since all of the medical websites that she had read warned that separation from the person the infant was with at birth could cause severe issues later.

She had eternity to go to college, after all.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that she wouldn't age, she wouldn't be young forever, and she wanted to experience things as normally as possible for as long as possible.

But she also didn't want to settle down too soon. Caroline never took on something that she couldn't finish, and she also never half-assed anything. But could she finish this? Could she be a mom?

She didn't know.

* * *

Day 130

"Hope Forbes?"

At the nurse's call, Caroline raised an eyebrow at Rebekah, who shrugged. "I couldn't exactly give them her real name," she mumbled.

"Subtle, Rebekah."

Rebekah shrugged, looking unconcerned.

They followed the nurse to a waiting room with giant posters of baby animals. Caroline and Rebekah sat in the chairs, and Caroline made sure Hope was settled in her lap.

"Dr. Benson will be with you in a minute."

The nurse left the room and Rebekah turned to Caroline. "What's going to happen?"

"The doctor will tell us," Caroline said, shrugging.

She couldn't understand why Rebekah was so anxious about the whole thing. Granted, there hadn't exactly been modern medicine when she was a child (or ever, really, considering that she'd been daggered in the twenties), but Caroline hoped that the doctor would reassure her.

"Just ask me any questions before you ask the doctor."

Rebekah nodded.

The door opened and a short woman walked in, examining a clipboard. She looked up. "Hello, I'm Dr. Benson. I assume you are," she checked the clipboard, "Caroline Forbes?"

Caroline nodded, glancing quickly at Rebekah. Why hadn't Rebekah put herself on the form?

Rebekah seemed to sense what she was thinking, and gave an infinitesimal shake of her head.

"Is this Hope?"

"Yes."

"I see that she's never had a doctor's visit," Dr. Benson said, clucking her tongue disapprovingly.

Rebekah stood up and caught the doctor's eye.

"You will refrain from making judgments on our parenting style and instead simply do your job. You will perform all tests and exams that were necessary up to Hope's current age, and any additional tests she may require."

Dr. Benson repeated the instructions back to Rebekah, who seemed satisfied. "I'm going to go compel the assistant nurse."

"Okay. Go ahead."

Dr. Benson seemed to have recovered from her momentary compulsion space-out. "So, Hope is how old?"

"A little bit over four months."

Dr. Benson nodded, plucking a stethoscope out of a drawer. "Just lay her down on the table, there, please."

Hope was checked for lung problems, ear infections, eye problems, muscle problems, and a whole host of other things Caroline stopped listing. Dr. Benson seemed satisfied with all of Hope's results except for the teeth.

"This is an interesting development," she said, "I think there's something wrong with her teeth. I've never seen anything like this before."

"What's wrong with it?"

"I have no idea, I can ask my colleague—"

"You will disregard and forget any abnormalities considering the order her teeth are growing in."

Dr. Benson repeated the instructions and then set about testing Hope's joints, asking questions as she went.

"How has she been sleeping?"

"Fine, I think. She just got to a predictable sleeping schedule. She has a few naps a day and then sleeps through most of the night."

"Good. Can she sit up or roll over one way?"

"Not without support. Is that bad?" Caroline asked, suddenly concerned.

"No, no. That's completely normal."

Caroline nodded warily.

"Does she babble? Smile and laugh?"

"Yes."

Dr. Benson asked a few more questions about her diet and hearing. "Everything seems to be just fine. She'll need to have a few shots today and come back in a month or two for the rest of them."

Knowing that the doctor wouldn't remember the conversation, Caroline asked for a list of the shots Hope would get that day as well as a list of ones that she needed in the future. Dr. Benson obliged, and by the time she had written the list, Rebekah was back.

"I'll just get the nurse to give Hope her shots," Dr. Benson said, turning to leave.

Caroline tapped her on the shoulder.

"You need to give Hope the shots yourself."

"I need to give Hope the shots myself. I will be back momentarily," Dr. Benson dutifully replied before leaving.

"Why didn't you put yourself on the form?"

"I don't have a birth certificate, and I've never been to a hospital for anything besides blood bags. I didn't know what they'd need."

Hope gurgled happily and Caroline lifted her up in her arms, feeling slightly guilty for what she knew was about to happen.

"Why do you look guilty?"

"You know what shots are right, Rebekah?"

Rebekah looked mildly insulted. "Immunizations? Yes."

"Okay. Good, so you won't freak out when they come at Hope with a needle?"

Rebekah just gave her an unimpressed look and didn't answer.

Dr. Benson came back, and Hope seemed to sense a change of tension in the air and began to wail.

Caroline tried to comfort her, and Hope calmed down slightly before starting to flail around again every time Dr. Benson attempted to approach.

"Just hold her down, please," Dr. Benson said.

Hope's first two shots went fine. The third one seemed to be attempting to escape from Dr. Benson's hand, who frowned at it, but administered it anyway. Caroline and Rebekah gave each other a quick glance when they realized that Hope was probably going to make the next vial explode.

"Dr. Benson," Caroline interrupted quickly, backing up with Hope, "We have to go somewhere  _right now._  What are the vaccines you haven't given her yet?"

"We just have the rotavirus vaccine left, but that's given orally."

"Okay. Can you just do that quickly, then?"

It was done within a few seconds, and Hope was getting more fussy by the minute. "Rebekah, we need to go."

Rebekah nodded. "Dr. Benson? Thank you for your help. You will forget that we were ever here. You had a lovely extended lunch break, and you will now continue your work as you would normally."

Thankfully, they left before Hope could make anything explode.

* * *

They had just walked in the door when Elena called.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Care. How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty well, thanks. You?"

"Really well. Look, I was wondering…I know that you needed some time away, but are you coming back to Whitmore this year?"

Caroline froze.

"N-no, Elena. I can't."

"Why? I can't be the only one there, Care, I can't."

"Oh, Elena…I'm sorry, I just have to—"

"Yes. I know. Have some  _time alone_ ," Elena said coldly.

There was something in Elena's voice that was troubling her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Look, I'm sorry, but—"

"No, Caroline. Clearly you're  _not_  sorry. You left me  _alone_ when I had just lost my boyfriend and our best friend, and  _lied_ and said that you ran off with Stefan, and you didn't return my calls for _months_. There is  _clearly_ something going on that you don't want to tell me, and, by the way, I  _know_ you're in Portland. I've known you were in Portland for the last three months."

Caroline exchanged a horrified look with Rebekah. "What…What are you talking about Elena?"  
"Cut the crap, Caroline. Your phone is there, and as you are currently speaking with me on it I'm going to assume you're with it."

"H-how?"

"Well, remember that time when you got kidnapped?"

Caroline decided not to ask for the specific kidnapping incident that Elena was thinking about, as it might exacerbate the situation.

"Yes…?"

"When we all downloaded that app on our phones that located each other so that we could find each other?"

_Shit._

"Oh."

"Yeah. Exactly. I thought that you would eventually tell me what the hell is going on with you, but clearly you aren't. Just in case you're wondering, because I'm  _actually a decent friend_ , I haven't told anyone, but if you don't tell me what's going on right now I  _will_ tell everyone—"

Caroline exchanged a panicked look with Rebekah.

"—and we will come bring you home."

"Well…Well the truth is…The truth is—"

Rebekah held out her hand and Caroline gave her a what-the-fuck look, but Rebekah ignored her and wiggled her fingers expectantly. Caroline gave her the phone, completely confused.

"Hello, Elena."

"Rebekah…? Omigod, if you took Caroline to get to m—"

"Oh, good lord. If you finish that sentence, doppelganger I will  _actually_  kill you. Caroline is here by choice—"

Caroline rolled her eyes, but at this point she couldn't exactly refute it.

"—and there is no need to rescue her."

"Then why did you take her phone?"

"Because she was going to come up with another bullshit lie, and I decided to tell you the truth. Now, listen carefully, you will  _not_ tell  _anyone_ where Caroline is. If you do, she will be in danger. And I'm sure that the last thing you want is for your friends to be in danger, isn't that right, Elena?"

Caroline had to hand it to Rebekah, the girl had a flair for the dramatics.

"If you hurt her—"

"Elena, I mean this in the nicest possible way—well, actually I don't, but either way it's true—you are an idiot."

" _What?_ "

"If I was going to hurt her, I already would have. Has it ever crossed your feeble little mind that I might actually be trying to keep Caroline  _safe_?"

Caroline pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Why would you do that? You hate Caroline!"

"No, I don't, and even if I did, Nik would kill me if I let anything happen to her."

"What does Klaus have to do with this?"

"I actually honestly  _cannot_ believe that I'm about to explain this to you because it's so obvious, but sometimes when a man with many enemies loves a woman, he has to take precautions to keep her out of harms way. Now, because I am unsure if you would have been able to come to this conclusion on your own, as you seem to be rather mentally stunted, I will spell it out for you. My brother loves Caroline. My brother also has many enemies. Because my brother loves Caroline and has many enemies, he must keep Caroline out of harm's way."

Caroline buried her face in her hands. While the head cheerleader part of her gave Rebekah an A-grade for the condescending bitch tone, this was going nowhere.

Hope started fussing.

"Why are you with a baby? You  _lied_ to me Caroline.  _Why are you with a baby?_ "

Caroline grabbed the phone back from Rebekah. "Elena, can we call you back in five minutes?"

Caroline grabbed a napkin and a pen and wrote in huge letters on the paper.

_SHOULD WE TELL HER?_

Rebekah grabbed the pen.

ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?

"No, Caroline, I want to know  _now,_ " Elena demanded.

Caroline grabbed the pen back.  _SEND SOMEONE TO BRING HER HERE._

Rebekah gave her an exasperated look. THAT'S MORE CRAZY, she wrote.

_WELL, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?_

"Caroline!"

"Elena…"

"Tell me  _now._ "

Caroline exchanged a look with Rebekah.

"I'm in love with Klaus, Elena."

"Okay, first of all, that has absolutely  _nothing_ to do with the baby that is clearly in your presence. Second of all,  _what?_ Are you on  _crack?"_

"Oh, good lord…" Rebekah mumbled.

"No, Elena. I love him, I really do."

 _SEND SOMEONE TO SNAP HER NECK AND BRING HER SOMEWHERE. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HERE,_ Caroline wrote _._

"You're on crack."

"Seriously, Elena? You have no right to tell me who I can and cannot love—"

"Oh, are we back to the Damon thing again? Really? He's  _dead,_ Caroline. You don't have to worry about it anymore."

Rebekah grabbed the pen back from Caroline.

I'LL CALL NIK. KEEP HER ON THE PHONE.

Rebekah dialed his number and stood on the other side of the room.

"Besides the fact that you are being the world's biggest hypocrite at the moment, this has absolutely nothing to do with me worrying about Damon, and everything to do with my personal freedom to care about whoever I want to care about."

"Look, Caroline, I know you hate Damon, but this isn't the right way to show it. He's dead, and so there's no point in trying to one-up me."

Caroline almost  _felt_  her blood boil, and she knew her veins were coming out.

"Okay, first off, I am not trying to one-up you. I don't love Klaus because I want to love a bigger, badder vampire than you do. I love Klaus because he's  _good to me_ …And if you insist on bringing up Damon, the only way he is even  _slightly_ relevant to this conversation is because I've been trying to find a way to bring him back, Elena. For  _you._  That's how good of a friend I am. I am willing to bring back your stupid fucking boyfriend that I hated,  _for you_."

She vaguely heard Rebekah explaining the situation to Klaus. Hope was fussing on the ground and Rebekah left to put her in the crib, her phone pressed to her ear. Luckily, Elena seemed too distracted by the nature of the current argument that she didn't ask again about the baby.

"Your irrational hatred of my dead boyfriend has nothing to do with this."

"My irrational hatred?  _My irrational hatred?_ Elena, he  _raped_ me."

Elena was silent, and Caroline prepared for a rant that had been a good two years in the making.

"And I know what you're going to say, too. Yes, he had it turned off. But that isn't an excuse, because he had his humanity on when he did the same thing to Andi. He never even  _apologized,_ Elena. I am your best friend, and not only did he try to kill me multiple times, but he never even  _acknowledged_ what he did to me. In fact,  _you_ never did anything about it when it was  _happening_ , and you knew what was going on for  _weeks_ , and I'm  _still_  your friend Elena, so don't even say a fucking word about  _my_ loyalty, which has  _never_ been in question.

"Yes, Klaus killed Jenna. Yes, Klaus tried to kill you. However, I'd like to point out that Damon has now killed Jeremy, Matt, Vicki, and whole  _loads_ of other people you know and love. The only reason you hate Klaus this much is that he was the only one who ever actually came near to killing  _you._ In fact, after the sacrifice, he didn't do anything against us until you all provoked him. Oh, and who provoked him, Elena? Who? Oh, right, I forgot. It was  _Damon._

"And I am sorry that you've had all this grief in your life Elena, really, I am. I will never understand what it's like to be you, and I'm not saying that your life isn't hard. What I  _am_ saying is that you need to stop blaming me for this. Damon made his own bed, and he should have been prepared for the consequences, which, by the way, _didn't happen._ He didn't get  _any_ retribution for what he did to me.

"And, by the way, I'm still trying to get him back from the dead for you. So, please excuse me for lying about my location for three  _whole_ months so that I didn't have to be your fucking support system because your asshole boyfriend died. I lost Bonnie that day, too, Elena. Although, from the way you're talking, I don't think you ever cared about her at all."

Rebekah was standing in the doorway with her mouth open, apparently having heard the entire rant. "I'll get it done, Nik," she mumbled before hanging up and walking over to Caroline.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I care about Bonnie! How can you say that?"

"Yeah, because it sounds  _so_  much like you care for Bonnie when every single word I hear coming out of your mouth is about Damon."

NIK'S SENDING SOMEONE, Rebekah wrote, HOW MUCH DAMAGE DO YOU THINK SHE CAN DO IN AN HOUR AND A HALF?

"Caroline? Are you there?" Elena was asking.

"Yes, Elena, I'm here," Caroline said tiredly, grabbing the pen from Rebekah.

_NOT MUCH. SHE'LL PROBABLY SPEND HALF OF IT CALLING ME BACK ONCE I HANG UP ON HER._

Rebekah snorted.

"Look, I'm sorry for what Damon did to you," Elena said, her placating tone conveying that was genuinely sorry but didn't think it was as big of a deal as Caroline did, "And I didn't mean to upset you. I wish you had told me earli—"

"You wish I had told you?  _You wish I had told you?_ " Caroline screeched, preparing for round two, "What was I supposed to say, exactly? 'Oh, Elena, I know you know this because you were there for it, but by the way you're boyfriend raped me repeatedly over a period of two weeks and used me as his human blood bag. Just thought you should know'?"

Frankly, this was cathartic, and Caroline hadn't realized how long she had wanted to  _shout_ like this. "I cannot believe you right now. I honestly can't believe what you're saying. You think  _I'm_ on crack?

"Look, Elena, as much as I'd love to listen to you criticize me not opening up to you about my sexual assault by  _your_  boyfriend _,_ that you love  _so_ much, I have better things to do. I'm sure we'll talk again at some point. And no, I'm not coming to Whitmore, but thanks for asking."

Caroline hung up, breathing hard, and Rebekah started slow-clapping.

"That was impressive."

"No, it was true," Caroline said tiredly, running a hand through her hair.

Rebekah winced. "Just so you know, I don't think that Nik will be all that interested in helping bring Damon back. Not that he was before, but after that he might actively work against it."

Caroline snorted, knowing that if she didn't laugh she'd just start sobbing. "But think about it, if Damon was alive Klaus could just torture him over and over," She said in a faux-optimistic voice.

"Be careful, if you say that in front of him he might actually do it," Rebekah said dryly.

Caroline shrugged. "Sucks for Damon."

"Are you okay?" Rebekah asked, her voice suddenly soft.

"I always am," Caroline said, a grim smile on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

Day 131

"James just called. She's settled in," Rebekah said quietly, sinking down on the couch next to Caroline, who was playing with Hope. Hope turned slightly and gurgled happily, waving her arms at Rebekah, who smiled.

Elena had been moved to a small apartment building not far from them. She would be locked in twenty-four-seven, and would have blood bags delivered daily. Elena would be let out when it was safe (or, in Rebekah's words, 'after I don't want to rip out her fingernails very slowly one by one and feed them to her over and over again every time they regrow'). Caroline hoped that Rebekah wasn't serious, because if she were Elena would never get out.

She was angry with Elena. Well, actually, she was absolutely positively  _livid._ However, and not that she was apologizing for what she said because she  _so_ wasn't, they both were under a lot of stress, and she could kind-of-sort-of-at-least-pretend to cut her some slack. Whatever Elena thought that Caroline's motivations were, she was still determined to bring Bonnie back, and that meant bringing Damon back with her, whether she wanted to or not. What's that called, collateral resurrection?

Whatever.

Either way, she wasn't excited about it.

She did need to talk to Klaus about it though. She wanted Bonnie back, and she didn't want to deal with Klaus actively trying to sabotage her attempts to make that happen. And, while on one level it was kind of weirdly sweet that he wanted to torture Damon—or at the very least, keep him away from her—for what he did, Caroline didn't want him to fight her battles for her.

Especially this one.

"That's good," Caroline said absently, trying to keep Hope's greedy hands off of her blonde locks and on the toy that she was trying to offer her.

"Just so you know, my brother heard what you said."

"Which part?"

Rebekah shrugged. "I'm not sure which parts, as we were carrying on our own conversation, but I heard all of it. You should talk to him."

"About what?"

Rebekah just glared at her, and then held her arms out to Hope, who gurgled happily and held out her own.

"Auntie Rebekah is going to get you a bottle, all right?"

"We should probably start her on solids soon," Caroline said.

Rebekah made a hum of agreement. "I'll pick up some baby food the next time I go out. You should go call my brother."

Caroline gathered that it wasn't so much a suggestion as a command.

* * *

Caroline sat on her bed and stared at her phone. She honestly wasn't sure what she was supposed to say when she called. Well, she knew part of it. Her speech about her feelings for him had been pretty self-explanatory, though she had a feeling that a discussion about that would take up a good chunk of their conversation anyway.

What she was really dreading was Klaus asking her any personal questions about her experience with Damon. It wasn't that she didn't trust him with the information; she just didn't particularly feel like reliving it. She'd already done it once, after all.

Even just  _thinking_  about seeing him for the first time after her transition made her angry, really. She saw him in the school hallway and it felt like the opposite of every teenage love-at-first-sight movie she had ever seen in her entire life. The second her eyes met his it was like a cold wave of water crashed on top of her, and she remembered everything.

And she did mean  _everything._

She sighed, and hoped that Klaus wouldn't ask. She knew he would, though, and she decided that she'd ask him to let her tell him in her own time.

So never, but he didn't need to know that.

Fingers shaking slightly, she dialed his number.

"Hello, Love."

She heard some sort of bang in the background, followed by a sick sort-of squishing noise. "Is this a good time?" She asked haltingly.

"Yes, of course. One moment," she heard a slight whoosh of air and the background noise faded, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I think. I'm a little upset with Elena," understatement of  _forever,_ "but I think I'll get over it eventually."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good. Well, I have had someone start to tail Cassie, and you will be happy to hear that we—Elijah and I, that is—believe that she is the vessel, and the object in question is her necklace. We just need to find a way to believably pull her aside without anyone becoming suspicious."

"You could always send a minion."

"They're incompetent."

"How hard could it be to grab a witch and bring her to your house?"

"They'd surely find it difficult, Love, that's why they're minions."

She couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Any other updates?" She asked.

"Not a one. Or not from New Orleans, and any rate."

"All right. Well, I'm sure you know already, but everything's fine here."

He made a hum of agreement. "I heard your conversation with the doppelganger yesterday. I understand if you'd prefer not to, but could you tell me about what happened?"

"With Damon, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Not right now. I'm still not…ready…maybe someday? On my own time, I mean?"

"If you're sure."

"I am."

He seemed to sense her need for a change of subject, and obliged. "Well, I know that you want to bring back the Bennett witch, so I've taken the liberty of consulting a witch that I know who is very handy with dismantling long-term spells. I doubt she's ever taken on anything of this magnitude, but from what I understand the theory is the same even if the amount of power isn't. That would, however, be something to speak with Rebekah about."

"Okay, who?"

"Jacqueline Desjardins."

"That's very French."

"Yes it is," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice, "She lives in Montreal."

"Canada?"

"Yes."

"You've lived in Canada?"

"…Yes?"

"Aren't they a little bit too nice for you?"

"You'd be surprised how little stereotypes apply to people that have lived for hundreds of years."

"I guess."

"Right, well, once Elijah and I have finished dealing with this business in New Orleans, I could take you to see her. Or, alternatively, Rebekah could go and leave you alone for a few days, with guards of course. So far nothing earth-shattering has happened…well… _some_ earth-shattering things have happened—"

Caroline snorted.

"—But I don't think you'll be in much danger as long as you don't leave the house."

"Sounds good."

"Is there anything else you wished to talk about, Love?"

"Yeah, actually."

She gathered up her nerve. She knew it was silly, and that he already knew it, but it was different, saying it out loud to him like this.

"I have something to tell you."

"Oh?" He sounded unsurprised.

"I think I love you," she said in a rush.

She could almost see his cocky dimpled grin in her minds eye, and his tone of voice confirmed it.

"Is that so?"

"Stop smirking at me."

"I can't smirk at you when you're not here, Love."

She huffed, and he laughed quietly.

"I'm glad to hear it, Caroline."

She frowned. And waited.

"Well, Elijah and I were in the middle of speaking with a pack of werewolves when you called, so—"

" _Seriously?_ "

"Seriously, what?"

Oh she could  _so_ see his face in her head right now, and she really wanted to punch it. She suddenly felt extremely petty and insecure, but she knew that he was just trying to rile her up. On the one hand, she didn't want to let him win. A part of her just wanted to act like it was no big deal and hang up.

On the other hand, she _really_  wanted to hear him say it.

"That's all you have to say? 'I'm glad to hear it, Caroline?'" She asked, failing to keep the laughter from seeping into her tone.

"Well, I am," he said, with clearly fake confusion.

She hmphed.

"And I, you. Caroline."

She didn't think she'd ever smiled so widely.

* * *

Day 149

Caroline tried to hold her phone steadily in front of her so that the video she was taking would come out less wobbly. Rebekah stood in front of hope with a spoon stuck in a jar of baby food and was preparing to attempt to feed Hope.

They had tried three times so far, and it had only worked once. The other two tries had resulted in the jar breaking on the floor, or the baby food miraculously (or in Caroline's opinion, messily) launching itself towards the ceiling.

Rebekah carefully lifted out the spoon and started to bring it to Hope's mouth. Hope just stared at her, completely nonplussed by this odd behavior that her aunt was exhibiting.

"Open up, Hope."

Hope gave the spoon a suspicious glance. Rebekah jiggled the spoon a little bit, and Hope batted it away, causing the green goop to splatter onto Rebekah's cheek. Instead of getting angry, the other girl simply gave a long-suffering sigh and attempted to feed Hope again, and this time the baby obligingly opened her mouth, and ate the baby food.

"Good job," Rebekah praised, while Caroline laughed behind the camera, "Oh do shut up, Caroline."

"Do you want a wet rag?"

Rebekah just sent her a filthy look and then kept feeding Hope, who seemed a little bit more willing to eat now that she seemed to realize that the baby food wasn't poison.

Ever her father's child, that one.

Though half of the jar had ended up on the floor, the girls considered it a relative success. Caroline texted the video to Klaus, who texted her back an hour later with a video of Elijah watching it, who had a soft sort of smile on his face as he watched his sister attempt to feed his niece.

 _I forwarded the video to him,_ Klaus had texted under it,  _show it to Bekah._

When Rebekah saw it, she laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen Elijah with such a sappy look on his face."

"I think it's kind of sweet."

"It is," Rebekah said, "But I'm going to text Elijah to take one of Nik next time. I'm sure that this is Nik's advance defense mechanism, because his smiles are almost ten times as mushy."

Caroline laughed.

* * *

_Day 161, New Orleans_

_Klaus silently waited behind the wall of a small boutique in the French Quarter. He had been here for hours, and Cassie (or Esther or whatever he was going to call her) was supposed to be walking back to her apartment after an early morning meeting with a few other witches. He and Elijah had to find a witch willing to make a magic suppressant the day before so that they could drag Esther back to the mansion._

_Normally they wouldn't have bothered with finding a suppressant, because usually witches knew that the Originals could easily get some other witch to do whatever job they wanted and wouldn't hesitate to kill a witch if they didn't comply with their demands. Unfortunately, Esther knew that they wouldn't dare kill her, which meant that she would attempt to escape._

_He tossed the enchanted rope between his hands as he waited, and when he heard footsteps, he peeked around to see his target walking down the path. She was very alert to her surroundings—as he had expected her to be—and he would have to be careful that she didn't give him an aneurysm. He looked across the street at the hybrid (courtesy of his daughter) he had stationed at the bus stop and made a discreet hand signal. The hybrid nodded and immediately flashed over to Esther, who started to give him an aneurysm, allowing Klaus to hook the ropes around her wrists, causing her magic to immediately fail._

_He had spent all his life inspiring fear in others, and had come to enjoy the feeling of knowing that the terror in someone's eyes was because of him._

_Klaus had never felt more satisfied with another's fear than at this moment._

" _Hello, Mother."_

_It seemed for a split second that she was going to play dumb, but instead her shoulders slumped slightly. "Hello, Niklaus."_

* * *

_Though his mother had her wrists tied down to the armrests of the chair to keep her magic dormant, she was sitting on it like a throne, her chin up and legs crossed at the knee. The only good thing that his mother had ever bestowed upon any of her children was to Elijah._

_He had definitely come by the ability to look completely dignified and unruffled no matter what the situation was honestly._

" _Who are my brothers possessing?"_

_She was silent, as she had been for the last three hours._

" _Mother, I don't want to hurt you—"_

_She gave a faint unladylike snort._

"— _but if you continue to be uncooperative, I will have to."_

_She stared at him_

_He stared back._

" _You won't kill me, Niklaus," she said quietly._

" _Really?" He asked, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm._

" _You need the information that I can provide."_

_He shrugged. "That's true, but there are other ways."_

_He paused, a thoughtful look on his face._

" _Of course, if I were to torture you, it would be so…inconvenient…to have to wait for you to heal. Why not feed you vampire blood? Then, if I get a little bit, oh, 'carried away' shall we say, you'll just wake up again."_

_She looked at him in horror._

" _Oh, and you'd lose your magic as well. In fact, if you were a vampire, I could easily compel the information out of you. This idea is getting more and more tempting by the second."_

" _You can't." She said, steel in her voice._

" _Oh? And why not?"_

" _If you kill the vessel, even with vampire blood in her system, my soul will be released, and you'd have to find me all over again," Esther said confidently._

" _Oh? Would I?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Well, I'm sure I could find a way around that. But, until then, I suppose I'll just keep questioning you."_

_He walked over to the fireplace and selected a metal poker from the fire tools resting next to it. He weighed it in his hand for a moment before sticking the end of it into the fire._

" _Clearly you have no interest in being at all useful, and as much as I didn't want to hurt you, well," he stopped speaking and smirked at her before continuing, "I seem to have no other choice. Who are my brothers possessing?"_

_She gave him a cold look and stayed silent._

_He gave a dramatic sigh and pulled the poker out of the fire._

_Less than five seconds later, she was screaming._

* * *

Day 162

Caroline awoke to the shrill ringing of her cell phone. It was still dark out, and she was not happy with whoever was calling. Groaning, Caroline slid halfway out of bed and patted around the top of her bedside table trying to grab it.

"Hello?" She mumbled.

"Caroline."

"Klaus? What's going on?"

"We got her."

Caroline was instantly alert. "Got who? Esther?"

"Yes. She's not being very cooperative. We've been trying to question her about Mikael's whereabouts for the last few hours, but she won't tell us anything. Unfortunately, she also knows of my infatuation with you, which means that he might as well. I would like you to be—"

"Extra careful. Got it," she finished her sentence for him, smiling slightly.

"I'll call you with any further news."

"All right," Caroline said, yawning.

"Did I wake you?"

"Mmhm."

"Oh, I apologize, Caroline."

"It's okay. It's not like I have anything to do tomorrow."

He laughed slightly. "All right. You should go back to sleep."

"'Kay. Love you, Klaus."

"And I, you, Love."

She hung up and rolled back over to let sleep claim her again.

* * *

_Day 163, New Orleans_

_Klaus walked into the cell that Esther was being kept in, a compelled human girl following him obediently, her horrified eyes darting around the room. When he stopped in the doorway, she stopped behind him and stared at Esther._

" _Good morning, Mother."_

" _Good morning, Niklaus," She replied warily, looking back and forth from the human to her son._

" _As you can see, I've brought a friend with me. What's your name, Love?"_

" _Le—Leah," the girl stammered, looking absolutely terrified._

" _Leah," he said slowly, letting the name roll off of his tongue, "has agreed to help me with a little experiment."_

_The girl hiccupped quietly, a few tears sliding down her face. He made a clucking sound with his tongue. "There, there, Leah. Assuming that my dear mother cooperates, you'll be right as rain by tonight."_

_She flinched as he laid a hand on her shoulder._

" _Sit down," he ordered, not unkindly, pointing Leah towards the chair next to Esther. Leah sank down into it, her breathing erratic._

_Klaus walked behind Esther's chair, pushing her hair out of the way. "I'll just borrow this for a moment, shall I?" He unclasped the necklace carefully._

_Cassie's body went limp, and Klaus walked over to Leah, who was sobbing now._

" _Shh…It's alright, Love," he soothed, hooking the necklace around Leah's throat._

_He walked around to the front of Leah's chair, watching her eyes roll back in her head for a few moments._

_Her eyes snapped back into focus, and stared at him. She immediately moved her wrists, and upon realizing that they weren't bolted to the chair she looked to the side and saw Cassie's body. She seemed to realize what was happening at once, and she closed her eyes tightly, pointing her face towards the floor._

" _Now, now, Mother. That won't do."_

_He tipped her chin up, and carefully pulled one of her eyelids up, mindful not to squish her eye. She was caught in his gaze immediately._

" _You will obey any and every order I give you, whether implicit or explicit. You will communicate the complete and honest truth whenever I prompt an answer from you of any kind in any way. You will not try or succeed in escaping, and you will not try or succeed in harming anyone in any way, including yourself. You will not attempt or succeed at removing any items of any kind from your person, and you will not communicate in any way, shape, or form with any being, dead, undead, or living besides myself, Elijah Mikaelson, and Rebekah Mikaelson."_

_She dutifully repeated the instructions back to him, absolute venom in her voice, seemingly frustrated by the complete lack of loopholes in his instructions._

_He had been compelling prisoners for a long time. He knew how to box them in._

" _Where is Kol Mikaelson?"_

" _I don't know."_

_He rolled his eyes._

" _Who is Kol Mikaelson possessing?"_

" _A witch named Kaleb Gordon Stone, who was born to an unknown father and Marisa Clarisse Stone nee Baker in 1983 in Atlanta, Georgia…" Esther began, smirking._

_Klaus allowed her to rattle off Kaleb Gordon Stone's entire known personal history (knowing that she was trying to irritate him using the 'complete and honest truth' clause of his compulsion), while he reflected on the possibility that Kol wasn't on his mother's side, or at least not firmly. Finn would most definitely side with Esther unless given significant reason not to (he should see about whether he could resurrect Sage as a last resort to get his brother to cooperate), but he wasn't too sure about his impulsive younger brother._

_He realized that Esther was winding down on her speech about his brother's vessel._

"— _And in early 2012 was possessed by Kol Mikaelson."_

" _Does Kol's vessel have any living family members in the area?" Klaus asked, keeping his questions narrower now._

" _No."_

" _What is Kol's current living address?"_

_She gave the address of her apartment, which made Klaus's eyebrows raise._

_He worded his next question carefully, knowing that it would be easy to make Esther start a three-hour monologue if he didn't. "Has Kol Mikaelson in Kaleb Gordon Stone's body had any romantic or sexual relationships of any kind with any being since arriving in New Orleans in April of 2012?"_

_She narrowed her eyes, trying to find a loophole, huffing when she couldn't. "He has had romantic relations with a young witch named Davina."_

_Hmm…Interesting._

" _Any others?"_

" _No."_

_He resolved to track down Kol later._

" _Who is Finn Mikaelson possessing?"_

_And she recounted the entire life story of a man named Vincent Griffith, Klaus tried to figure out where he had heard the name before. By the time she had finished her monologue, he had remembered. Vincent was Camille's thesis advisor._

_He pulled out his phone and texted Elijah, asking him to find Camille and bring her to the mansion._

" _Where is Mikael?"_

" _I do not know."_

_He sighed. "Where is Mikael Mikaelson?"_

" _I do not know."_

_He frowned._

" _Are you in contact in any way, shape, or form with Mikael Mikaelson?"_

" _Not that I know of."_

_He grimaced. "Very well, then."_

_Cassie stirred in the chair, and he immediately picked up the chair and started to leave with her tied in it. He turned back to his mother._

" _We will speak again, Mother, not to worry. I will send someone down with a meal. We wouldn't want you to starve."_

* * *

_There was a knock on his study door, and he answered without looking up from his computer. "Come in."_

_He heard Camille enter the room, and registered her sitting in the chair in front of his desk._

" _Why am I here?"_

" _My brother is possessing your thesis advisor," Klaus said bluntly, closing the laptop and looking at her._

" _What? Who?"_

" _Your thesis advisor has become a vessel for my brother Finn's soul." Klaus said slowly._

" _Why?"_

_Klaus shrugged. "I'd assume because he wants to see if you know anything about my plans."_

" _But I don't."_

" _That's true. Nonetheless, Elijah will accompany you to the university tomorrow and he will procure you a new thesis advisor."_

" _Why? If I don't know your plans he won't need me."_

_Now that he spoke with Caroline all the time, he honestly doesn't know what he had ever seen in Camille. She had absolutely no sense of self-preservation, and despite the fact that she was in the middle of getting a graduate degree in psychology, she seemed to not understand the simple concept of leverage._

_Well, maybe he did know. If he had squinted in just the right way and looked at her from the back she could pass for a pale imitation of Caroline._

_He really had been desperate._

" _Does that mean that you'd rather Elijah not compel you a new advisor?"_

" _I don't know why it would be necessary."_

_He restrained an eyeroll. Well, he tried._

" _All right. See yourself out then."_

" _Are you okay?"_

_He sighed. "As much as I'd love for you to psychoanalyze me, I think we both have more pressing matters to attend to."_

_She shot him an offended look and then shrugged. "Fine."_

_He didn't answer, and he heard his study door close behind her._

* * *

Day 167

"I think we only need to find one more spell," Rebekah said, writing down the final line of an incantation on a piece of paper.

"Really?" Caroline asked.

"Yes. I think I have most of it, I just need to figure out exactly how she combined the ritual, and the reagents and incantation we can use to unravel it. It'll be complicated, but it can be done."

"Great! What can I do?"

"Nothing at the moment."

"Klaus called to tell me that he was talking to a witch in Montreal about this."

"Oh, Jacqueline?"

"Yeah, actually. Do you know her?"

"Unfortunately."

Caroline was suddenly unsure about Klaus's plan to send Rebekah. "He wanted you to show her everything and see what she thought."

Rebekah snorted. "Of course he did. Well, I suppose that she is qualified. Go call Nik and ask him when exactly he wants me to go."

Caroline got up, and laughed slightly when she heard Rebekah tack on a 'please' at the end as an afterthought.

She pulled out her phone, and dialed his number, and Klaus picked up almost immediately.

"Caroline?"

"Hey."

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. Rebekah just wanted me to ask you when she's going to go to Montreal."

"We should get to a stable point where I'd be less worried about you and Hope being left alone in about two weeks. I'll keep her updated, not to worry."

"Okay. How are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you. I have spoken to my mother, and it turns out that, as Elijah had surmised, Kol and Finn are possessing witches in the area. I am unsure about their loyalties, particularly Kol's, but I believe that New Orleans will be safe relatively soon."

"That's great!"

"I agree."

She smiled. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I do not believe so."

"Okay. Do you want to talk tonight? I finally moved into the other condo."

He laughed quietly. "Are you propositioning me?"

"That depends, would you be willing to be propositioned?"

He snorted. "Always, if it's you."

"You are such a sap."

"Always, if it's you," he teased, and she made a retching noise, making him laugh.

"Just call me tonight."

"Of course. Unfortunately, I have to go, Love. I'll speak to you tonight."

"Bye, Klaus."

"Until tonight, Sweetheart."

* * *

Day 171

"Umm…A5?"

"Miss. G4?"

"Hit," Caroline mumbled, sticking the red peg into her last ship.

Rebekah gave her a saccharine smile. "G5."

"Fu—I hate you," Caroline said, interrupting herself when Rebekah shot a significant look at Hope, who was playing on the ground.

"Of course you do."

"I don't get how you always win at this. It's pure luck."

"No, it's not. If you watch the other person's face, you can find clues as to where they set their ships by the way their eyes move. In addition, you should never guess a square right next to another peg if you didn't get a hit. Because the pegs are set in a grid, you only need to guess every other square."

Caroline made a face. "You suck at strategy games though."

"It's not strategy, it's common sense."

"Oh? You want a game that involves common sense? Want to play Othello?" Caroline said, with false smile.

"Absolutely not."

"You're afraid I'll beat you?"

Rebekah snorted. "I know you'll beat me."

"Ma-ma."

Both blondes swerved around to stare at the baby.

The baby stared back.

They held this staring contest for at least thirty seconds.

"Ma-ma."

"She doesn't know what she's saying," Rebekah said quickly.

"Yeah. Babies mimic sounds that they hear when they first start seriously babbling," Caroline agreed faintly.

Rebekah walked over and picked up Hope, starting to speak to her in French and bringing her over to the corner with the toys while Caroline sank down on the couch unseeingly.

This shouldn't be bothering her. Clearly Hope was simply mimicking sounds. There was no reason to freak out about it at all.

But it still jogged something in her memory.

" _Look, I know she's your daughter and I shouldn't have a say in how she's raised—"_

" _Of course you do."_

She suddenly felt incredibly overwhelmed by the reality of the situation. She was raising Klaus's baby.

She was a mother figure to Klaus's baby.

What would happen when they left? And they were getting closer to that, she was sure of it. Would she stay with Klaus in New Orleans with Hope? Could she? She knew that he would let her, would want her to, even. But it was a huge commitment.

Just committing to  _Klaus_ had been a huge step, but a  _baby_?

Could she commit to being there for Hope's first words? Steps? Lost teeth? Even further, for Hope's first days of school, for her first play-dates, first fight with her friends? First relationship?

She seriously pitied Hope's future partner, meeting the parent would be terrible.

Or would it be meeting the parents?

She felt an oncoming panic attack.

She was hoping to bring the anti-magic bubble around Mystic Falls down, but what if she couldn't? Would she just hang around the border forever?

_Small-town boy, small-town life…It won't be enough for you._

He was right.

But she was so  _young_ for a mother. There was so much in the world she wanted to explore…

 _But this might be your only chance to be a mother, you know,_ a tiny voice in her head reminded her,  _you'll probably never have an opportunity like this again._

She looked at Hope, who was happily babbling to Rebekah while she watched in fascination as a little teddy bear floated in front of her. She loved Hope. She loved Klaus. She was building a real, true friendship with Rebekah… Would it be so bad?

Could she do this?

 _Yes,_ the little voice said,  _You can._

* * *

_Day 176, New Orleans_

_Klaus approached the apartment quietly and listened intently for any sound. There were footsteps, but it appeared to only be one person._

_He knocked on the door, and it swung open to a young man with sandy brown hair and a strong jaw, who's eyes flew open slightly at the sight of Klaus on his doorstep. To his credit, he calmed himself quickly._

" _Hello, can I help you?"_

_Klaus gave his brother a dimpled smile._

" _Why yes, Kol, I believe you can. May I come in?"_

_Kol's expectant look quickly slipped off to be replaced by the standard bored smirk he had worn in his old body. "I'm not an idiot, brother. Shall we take a walk?"_

" _If that suits you."_

_They started down the stairs together in a companionable silence. Klaus knew that no one but his family would ever understand how it was to loathe someone completely for half a century and then reconnect like old friends the next. It was an odd feeling._

_He had, in fact, missed Kol a great deal. It was one thing to dagger one of his siblings in a coffin, as he knew he could get them back, but watching them die in front of him while he was helpless was a different kind of torture._

" _Where's Mother?"_

_Well that was one way to start the conversation._

" _She's alive."_

" _That's not an answer."_

" _Why do you want to know?"_

" _She's my mother, why wouldn't I want to know?" Kol said, though he didn't sound much like he cared at all._

" _I suppose that's true. Follow me."_

_They both knew that the mansion had always been the intended destination, but neither mentioned it as they walked the rest of the way in silence. Elijah met them at the door. "Hello, Brother."_

" _Worst-kept secret in New Orleans, this is, isn't it?" Kol said to Klaus, nodding at Elijah as they entered._

_They all sat down in the living room._

" _Do you think that Mother is aiding Father?" Elijah asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter._

_Kol shook his head. "Mother doesn't know where he is."_

" _That's strangely specific."_

_Kol shrugged, a little smirk on his face. "I'd say so."_

" _So you know where Mikael is."_

" _Not so much where he is as who he's with."_

" _Well?"_

_Kol sighed. "It doesn't work like that. We have to make a deal."_

" _Fine," Klaus said irritably, "I propose you tell us and then we kill him for you. How's that?"_

_Kol raised an eyebrow. "Touchy."_

_They were silent for a moment._

" _So, assuming that I tell you where Father is, will you keep me alive?"_

_Klaus snorted. "I didn't want you to die in the first place. Although," he continued at Kol's smirk, "if anyone asks, I never said that."_

" _I'm glad to know that you cared, Brother," Kol said, a small but genuine smile on his face._

_Klaus shrugged. "I've learned that family is one of the more important things we have in the world."_

_Kol looked between Klaus and Elijah slowly._

" _Elijah, who gave Nik a personality transplant?"_

" _Well," Elijah said, the rare smirk on his face immediately telling Klaus that what he was about say wasn't anything good, "Let's just say that Niklaus fell—"_

" _So, where is Mikael?" Klaus interrupted._

* * *

Day 180

Caroline jerked awake to Hope's screams from the room next door. She heard Rebekah frantically shushing the baby, but the damage was done, and she was already awake. Her phone informed her that it was already nine in the morning, but she had been expecting to be able to sleep a little later. Unfortunately, babies apparently didn't have the human decency to let people sleep in on their birthdays. Yawning, she slid out of bed and headed to the kitchen to grab a blood bag.

After she had heated up her blood in the microwave, she sat down to drink it, savoring the taste. Rebekah walked in with Hope.

"Happy Birthday, Caroline."

"Thanks!"

Hope gurgled a greeting, and Caroline smiled back. There was a knock on the door, and Caroline raised an eyebrow at Rebekah, who looked completely unsurprised. "You should get that," she said nonchalantly, unscrewing a baby food jar.

Caroline knew exactly who was behind the door, and restrained the urge to roll her eyes at their attempt at a surprise. Nonetheless, she opened the door to their guest.

"Here to kill me?" She teased, leaning against the doorframe.

"Now, why would I do that? I love birthdays, didn't you know?"


	8. Chapter 8

Day 180: Caroline

" _Here to kill me?" She teased, leaning against the doorframe._

" _Now, why would I do that? I love birthdays, didn't you know?"_

She laughed and stood back to let him in. "I think you might have mentioned that once."

He grinned at her, all dimples and glinting teeth. She had never seen him smile like that, it just looked…wrong…and it gave her a slight sick twist in her stomach. "Happy Birthday, Caroline."

"Thank you. So, not that I'm complaining or anything, but what are you doing here? Don't you have things to do in New Orleans?"

Rebekah stuck her head out of the kitchen. "I was wondering that too, actually, Nik. This was rather short notice and last I heard you were busy."

He shrugged and walked past Caroline into the house without so much as a peck on the cheek, leaving her slightly disappointed by the greeting. "Elijah and Kol have everything under control. Mother is still living in the cell, and we have someone tailing Finn. The only unknown entity is Father, but from what I understand from Kol he's currently trapped in an attic by a teenage witch."

Rebekah frowned slightly.

"How long will you be here?" She asked slowly.

"I'll be staying until the twelfth."

"Hope's six month?" Caroline asked.

"Yes. Conveniently that and your birthday fall within the same few days."

"That is convenient," Caroline said, leading him to the kitchen. He approached Hope, who was sitting in her high chair stubbornly refusing the food that Rebekah was trying to coax her to eat.

Hope started gurgling and waving her arms. Rebekah sighed and let Klaus approach and pick her up out of the high chair, and Hope immediately grabbed for the set of necklaces he almost always wore. He grinned, and bounced a Hope slightly in his arms. "She seems happy to see me."

"You two have been Skyping every few days. She must recognize your face," Rebekah said, having put the baby food back in the fridge and opened a blood bag for herself.

"You seem much less terrified of her, actually," Caroline said slowly, looking back and forth between Klaus and Hope.

He shrugged. "What's there to be terrified of, she's a baby?"

Rebekah and Caroline exchanged a look. There was something very,  _very_ wrong. Rebekah wriggled her fingers and tapped her knee. Caroline frowned before it dawned on her. She turned back to Klaus.

"I'm glad you came," Caroline said, smiling.

"Me too."

Rebekah held out her arms for Hope. "She needs to eat. Let me finish up and then you can hold her."

A flicker of a frown passed over Klaus's face before he passed Hope back. Caroline turned back to him, inwardly wincing at what she was about to do.

"I missed you, you know." She said, before she leant in and kissed him. He stiffened for a moment before resting his hands on her hips. She trailed her hands up to loop her fingers through his hair and suddenly twisted.

There was a sharp  _crack_ and Klaus fell down to the floor.

Hope started wailing immediately and Rebekah shushed her quietly, lifting her up to rest on her shoulder.

"That's not Klaus," Caroline said quietly.

"No. It's not."

They exchanged a nervous look. "How long do you think until he wakes up?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know, a few hours, maybe?"

"What are we going to do?"

"I'll call Elijah," Rebekah said, "And you need to take Hope and run."

"Run where?"

"I don't know. You just need to get away from here. We can't take any chances. You need to leave as soon as possible."

Caroline felt herself start to panic, but quickly squashed the feeling. This was not the time.

"But what about a cloaking spell? And supplies?"

Rebekah sighed. "Go get the essentials from around the house and pack up. Take the minivan the opposite direction from the airport and dump it and then compel someone to drive you. I'll get Hope ready to go and call Elijah."

"But what about the cloa—"

"We can't trust James," Rebekah said quietly.

"Well, then how will we do it?"

Rebekah bit her lip, looking uncertain. "Go somewhere populated. If they use a location spell they'll only be able to find the city. I'd say New York, but it's too close, and Chicago is too obvious considering out history. Have you ever been to California?"

"No."

"Go to San Francisco. There are lots of people there, and there are plenty of witches just in case. Here," she said, grabbing a napkin and a pen and writing down a few names, "These are a few witches we've done work with before. Only contact them in an emergency. If you need them for something, don't mention where you came from or who Hope is."

"Okay," Caroline said, nodding faintly.

"Go."

Caroline didn't rush, because she knew she'd forget something. She just methodically packed up some of Hope's clothes and a few baby supplies into the diaper bag, grabbed a few dresses (as they were the most portable), and then realized that she would have to leave the grimmoires.

"Rebekah? Should I take any of the grimmoires? Or the notes?" She asked when she returned to the kitchen.

Rebekah moved the phone slightly away from her mouth to address Caroline's question. "Take the notes. I'll hide the grimmoires."

Caroline nodded, and by the time she had packed up the notes and returned, Rebekah was off the phone.

"Kol thinks that someone possessed Nik, and his money is on Mikael."

Caroline felt sick. "How are you going to…How can we fix it?"

"I don't know. But we will, Caroline, I promise."

Rebekah pulled her into a tight hug and then kissed Hope on the forehead.

"I'll call you with updates," Rebekah promised.

"Thanks."

"You have to go," Rebekah said, taking a glance at the imposter's unconscious body."

"Where is he? He'll kill you."

"I locked him up for now. Don't worry about me, you need to leave."

"But—"

"Go, Caroline."

"But I can't—"

Rebekah grabbed Caroline by the shoulders and caught her gaze. "Go, Caroline."

Caroline tried to fight the compulsion, but it was no use, and as she pulled out of the driveway with tears in her eyes and Hope buckled in the backseat, she almost wished that she were back in her bed in Mystic Falls with a werewolf bite.

Life had been so much easier then.

* * *

_Day 180: Rebekah_

_Rebekah felt terrible about compelling Caroline, but she couldn't let the girl be a martyr, especially when her niece was involved. She walked back to the spare room and re-twisted the imposter's neck. She had to make sure that whoever-it-was stayed dead._

_She inspected her brother's body, trying to find an anchor. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to tell whether it was an anchor until he woke up, and she wasn't taking any chances. Her brother's body had to come back to New Orleans where they had the resources to keep him until they found a solution._

_Decision made, she dragged her brother's body outside and stood in the street with him, waiting for a car to stop. She was in luck that the first car that drove down the street looked new and so she wouldn't have any breakdown issues. The car screeched to a halt in front of her and the man in the driver's seat got out._

" _Are you crazy?"_

_She dropped her brother's body on the ground. She felt bad about compelling Caroline, but compelling a human gave her no guilty feelings whatsoever._

" _Your car was stolen by a blonde male teenager with a gun. That's all you remember as you were in shock. You will forget this conversation with me and instead remember that part of the incident."_

_She left the dazed man, took his keys, threw her brother's body in the backseat and started off on the long drive to New Orleans._

_She set an alarm on her iPhone for half an hour, though she was planning to stop whenever she remembered before the alarm went off, knowing that she had to keep re-breaking her brother's neck. She pulled over onto a mostly-abandoned country road twenty minutes later and did so, before an idea struck her._

_She steeled herself for what she was about to do, and felt waves of disgust roll through her as she undressed her brother's body and took all of the items on his person. She hoped again that Mikael had used an anchor. She stuffed her brother's clothes and personal items into her suitcase and covered him with a blanket, not wanting to accidentally get an eyeful of something she_ really  _didn't want to see._

_She was back on the road again, pulling over every half hour or so to re-break the imposter's neck. Once she hit the highway, she called Elijah._

" _I've sent Caroline off with Hope," she said as soon as he picked up._

" _Good. And Niklaus?"_

" _In the backseat. I'm driving to New Orleans right now. I…I had an idea, and I undressed him and took all of his personal items. That way if I forget to re-break his neck I at least have a chance of him not waking up as Mikael. I think I might be permanently traumatized."_

_She could hear the smirk in her brother's voice. "Well, I suppose that on occasion the sacrifices of the few must be made for the needs of the many."_

_Rebekah made a retching noise._

" _In any case, I shall see you in New Orleans in how long?"_

" _About ten hours, assuming that I speed."_

" _Good. Ten hours then. Please check in two hours from now. I want to make sure that you're on track."_

" _Of course, Brother."_

_Rebekah sighed after she hung up, and waited until there were less cars around to pull over to the shoulder and break her brother's neck again._

_It was going to be a long day._

* * *

Day 180: Caroline

Caroline managed to wave over a middle-aged man in a sedan and quickly fixed Hope's seat into the back and compelled him to drive them to the airport. She secured tickets to Chicago, planning to switch aliases in the airport there before her flight to San Francisco.

Luckily, Hope slept through the five hour flight and Caroline used it to make a list of what they needed to do in Chicago and then in San Francisco.

They got off the plane and Caroline left the security line, grabbing her suitcase from the baggage claim, and then went to the ticket desk for a completely different airline.

"I'd like to buy two tickets to San Francisco please."

"Economy?"

"Yes."

"An adult's and a child's?"

"Yes, please."

"Is this child yours?"

"Yes," Caroline answered without hesitation.

"May I see an identification card?"

Caroline leaned forward. "You don't need to see my identification card."

The woman looked confused for a moment. "Sorry, Ma'am, but what name should I put these under?"

She had given this some thought. She didn't want it to be too obvious, because then those tailing her could easily find her. However, she also needed to be able to respond to it believably, which meant it couldn't be too different. She also needed a completely different last name, but she decided to keep one that they wouldn't look for first, but that Rebekah would know.

"Claire Gerard."

She was very glad that she and Rebekah had chosen French to teach Hope, because that would make it more believable.

"All right," the ticket attendant said kindly, "Will you be checking any bags today?"

"Yes."

"That'll be $523.69 please."

"I already paid."

"Of course, Ma'am, I'm so sorry. Enjoy your flight."

Within four hours they were collecting their bags in San Francisco, and Caroline took the subway from the airport to the city. She had resolved to do everything as normally as possible, and try not to cut too many corners (as that could make trouble later).

She was wary of using her own laptop for anything just yet, so she stopped at the library (it was only six o'clock because of the time difference, and she just barely made it before closing time) and used one of the computers there to find a listing on Craigslist for an apartment that would suit their needs. After creating a new email address and arranging a meeting with the landlord for the next day, Caroline compelled them a small hotel room and looked down at her list.

If they were going to be there for longer than a month or two, she needed to compel Hope a birth certificate, and create a new identity for her, as well as making one for herself without a paper trail. Hopefully that wouldn't be necessary.

The first order of business was to go shopping for supplies and clothes. She had to figure out an excuse for staying in her apartment with Hope all day (getting a job where she couldn't watch Hope was out of the question).

She was glad that it would be next to pointless to buy a car in San Francisco. They had a subway and bus system that would take her around the city efficiently, and parking was too expensive anyway (and meters couldn't be compelled). She and Hope took the subway to a grocery store nearby and stocked up on baby supplies. Hope was getting fussy because of the time, and so Caroline put her to bed as soon as they arrived back at the hotel, and then collapsed into her own.

* * *

_Day 180: Rebekah_

_Rebekah pulled into the driveway of the New Orleans mansion, pausing to break the imposter's neck yet again, and then sped him into the foyer, yelling for Elijah._

" _Put him in the basement, Bekah."_

_She did, locking him in their most secure cell. Elijah arrived a few minutes later with a witch in tow. "Please do a containment spell."_

_The witch nodded and did so, the torches around the door momentarily flaming before they faded._

_The three of them trudged up the staircase, and she and Elijah sank down in the living room trying to figure out what to do, asking the witch to wait outside. "I think the only thing to do is wait for him to heal and then question him. We have to test the possible anchors, they're still in my purse, and then we'll know for sure."_

_They spent the next two hours with a witch testing the various items. None came out as an anchor, which meant that the imposter was using some other method._

_Elijah had asked whether Rebekah knew for sure that it wasn't their brother, and Rebekah answered right away._

" _There were a few things, but the one that stood out to me was that he used the words Mother and Father referring to Esther and Mikael, which he never does unless it was to their faces, and there wasn't any contempt in his voice at all."_

_Elijah nodded._

" _Well, at least the imposter is contained for the moment," Elijah said slowly, "We should ask Kol what he thinks about the exorcism ritual. I understand that we don't know if he'd firmly on our side, but he had ideas about the possession in the first place. At this point I think we must trust him."_

" _I agree," Rebekah said quietly._

* * *

Day 181: Caroline

"Thank you so much for being willing to see us so quickly," Caroline said to the elderly woman that was showing them around the apartment.

"It's no problem, dear. Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's great. Thank you!"

"Would you like to look at the lease?"

Caroline nodded and they soon went through all the details. Caroline sighed as she steeled herself for what she was about to do. Stealing was wrong. It was one thing to do it from a giant department store chain where they'd hardly notice the difference, but stealing from an elderly landlady was worse. Caroline rationalized that she and Hope wouldn't be living there for long, and that if it took longer than a week or two for Rebekah to say that it was safe to come back she'd figure something out.

"You are going to let us stay here without paying rent indefinitely. You are doing this because seeing a young teenage mother with her daughter tugged at your heartstrings," she waited for the dazed look to leave the woman's eyes and then continued, "Thank you again for letting me stay here."

"Of course, I couldn't let you starve, could I? Why don't you get yourself settled in?"

* * *

Because Caroline didn't have a car this time around and she had to keep Hope in her sights at all times, she had to find furniture that was reasonably easy to carry. She was glad that she'd remembered to bring an air mattress, but she needed to find a small crib that Hope could use.

That's how she and Hope found themselves at a furniture store buying a convertible portable crib.

They honestly didn't really need much. Caroline "bought" a portable crib, a blow up chair, and tiny air pump. After they had brought it back to the apartment, she went to Target and got toiletries, some clothes, towels, and some baby food.

Currently, she had Hope in her lap and was reading a children's book from the library to her while constantly checking her phone.

Caroline knew that she'd hear it if it rang, but she just needed to check. She hoped that Rebekah was okay, and that she would figure out how to help Klaus.

"Would you eat them in a box? Would you eat them with a f—Hmm."

The phone rang, and it was an unknown number. Caroline let it go to voicemail, and then put down the book to listen to it.

" _Hello Caroline, this is Elijah. I'm calling to tell you that I have recovered Rebekah and Niklaus—or his imposter at any rate—and they are currently residing at the mansion. I am hopeful that you and my niece are settled, and I ask that you do not tell me, nor anyone else, where you are. I will contact you again once Niklaus is safe. I would also ask that you not make any contact until I do so for the safety of you both. You will also, I am sure, be happy to know that I have recovered your friend, Miss Gilbert, and that she is currently residing in a room here as well. I will do my best to ensure that she stays comfortable. I will speak with you soon, I am sure."_

She was glad that Elijah had made sure that Elena was safe, and it did make her feel better to know that Rebekah and Klaus were in the mansion.

She already missed Rebekah, to be honest. And she had been missing Klaus since Father's Day. She wanted to go home.

It was strange, she thought, that she had lived in Mystic Falls her entire life, but it only took six months for the safehouse to become home.

* * *

_Day 182: Klaus_

_He woke up slowly, his head foggy, his arms and legs weighing him down like bags of wet sand. He tried to stir in his chair, but found that he couldn't. He realized that his mouth was moving, but he didn't know what he was saying._

_He wasn't forming the words._

_Rebekah was standing in front of him, fury in her face, and he wondered what he had done this time._

_Wait._

_Wasn't Rebekah supposed to be with Caroline and Hope?_

_He tried to look at his surroundings but his head wouldn't move. His fingers wouldn't flex. Suddenly, his head turned to the side without his direction to see Elijah._

_Why couldn't he move?_

_He tried to ask, but he couldn't._

" _Niklaus is not here anymore. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be."_

_Mikael._

_Mikael was possessing his body._

_Klaus pulled all of his willpower to force Mikael out of his body, but he couldn't. He couldn't draw the strength._

_But he needed to._

_Caroline was relying on him to come back to her, just like he promised._

_His daughter needed him, and he needed her._

_He shivered, and his body jerked, his eyes focusing and his body responding to his orders for movement._

" _Nik?" Rebekah asked frantically._

" _Yes," he said, his voice gravelly._

_She and Elijah looked at each other swiftly. "The spell will probably only work for an hour at the most, so we'll have to keep you in the chair. My apologies," Elijah said quietly._

" _What happened?" Rebekah asked._

" _I was walking down the street and then I woke up here. What's the date?"_

" _October 12_ _th_ _. Hope's—"_

" _Six months, yes. Is she—"_

" _Hope and Caroline are safe. We need to speak about keeping Mikael out of your body," Elijah said quietly, "Do you feel in control, Niklaus?"_

" _For the moment, yes."_

_Elijah nodded. "Kol is working with a witch to develop an exorcism ritual. We aren't quite sure what spell Mikael used."_

" _Wasn't it done by Davina?'_

" _Yes, but she's missing," Rebekah said, "No one has seen her."_

" _Ask Kol to find her, and you help the witches," Klaus ordered, feeling more like himself with every word that came out of his mouth._

_Rebekah nodded slowly and left the room._

_Elijah and Klaus held each other's gazes for a moment. "Thank you, Brother." Klaus said._

" _Always and forever, Niklaus."_

_Suddenly he felt his limbs sink, and an odd pulling in his chest. "It's…happening…ag—"_

_His vision went black._

* * *

Day 182: Caroline

"Happy six months, Hope," Caroline said quietly, cradling Hope in her arms.

Hope gurgled and waved her arms. She had spent the whole day entertaining Hope with a walk to the park and a trip to the library between the baby's naps, and she was exhausted. She didn't know how single moms managed. Caroline started up Mulan on her laptop, hoping for some downtime for at least a few hours.

As she had taken to doing (when she and Hope weren't at the library or the park), she read over the notes Rebekah had left her, trying to find something that they had missed. She knew that it would be almost impossible, but she had to try.

Rebekah, for reasons that were slightly unclear to Caroline, took very thorough notes, explaining a lot of what she was saying as she went, along with diagrams. Caroline suspected that Rebekah had been intending to start a grimmoire.

She read over the first passage again.

_The construction ritual is pentagramic, with a three-point link. As such, the unraveling ritual mirrors the pentagram but would use one center link. The primary element used for both rituals is water, and I have identified the spells for three of the five points of the pentagram of the original ritual; the Bennett anchoring spell from the family grimmoire of Qetsiyah Bennett (photocopy attached), an immensely complex containment spell found in the second generation Traveler grimmoire (photocopy attached), and the basic traditional cloaking spell (non invenio, probatorem caecus). I believe that the remaining two spells are some sort of separation spell and a complex magic suppressant spell._

_The two linking spells that have been identified are the anchoring link from the family grimmoire of Qetsiyah Bennett (photocopy attached), and the traditional traveling spell (not to be confused with Traveler magic) found in the Descartes family grimmoire (photocopy attached). The last linking spell is most likely a motion-restrictor._

_The ritual incantation can be constructed using a combination of the main language in the five point spells, and the complete existing incantation for the linking spells. The ritual was performed with the reagent of water._

_The unraveling ritual, as previously stated, mirrors the format of the construction ritual but unlinks. Theoretically, one would use an anchor-release spell (most likely could be found in a Bennett or Petrova grimmoire), two different complex location or containment overrides, a merging spell, and a magic release. The one linking spell would be the generic ritual unravel link (retexo nodus praecantatio)._

Caroline pulled out her written list of the spells that Rebekah suspected were in the ritual but didn't know the specifics of. Witches needed to make some sort of database for the grimmoires, she decided.

Like a Spell Google.

Hope had fallen asleep earlier, which meant her laptop was free. Feeling ridiculous, she Googled for a spell database. She didn't find anything, which wasn't surprising, but knowing that she had nothing better to do she kept trying.

Half an hour later she was searching the names of witches she knew to see what came up.

_Qetsiyah Bennett_

Only a few results using Qetsiyah came up, but she found a history of occult legends, and clicked on it. There was an explanation that went on for pages about the history of the legend of Silas, Qetsiyah, and Amara.

Hope started fussing before she had gotten through the first page. Caroline picked her up, sighing quietly and fed her.

* * *

_Day 182: Rebekah_

_This witch was incompetent, and she was getting on Rebekah's last nerve. They had made barely any progress since Nik lost control of his body, and it had been hours. She heard the front door open and Kol shout for them to come over. Grateful for a break, Rebekah attended to him._

" _I think I found Mikael. Or, at least, I think I found his body," Kol said._

" _Where?"_

" _An apartment building in town. I don't think Davina's with him, though."_

" _Do you know where she is?"_

_He shrugged. "I could probably find out, but I doubt she'll tell me anything."_

" _Does Davina know that you're Kol and not Kaleb?"_

_Kol shook his head._

" _Go on a date with her again. See what she knows."_

" _Now, now, sister. Using a young girl for our own gain? That doesn't sound very nice."_

_Rebekah snorted. "That hasn't stopped you before."_

_Kol shrugged. "Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf."_

" _Or maybe you've just realized that you aren't immortal anymore and so you're worried that she'll kill you."_

" _Maybe," Kol said quietly._

" _Please, just do it?"_

" _Why can't you go talk to Marcel? Isn't he supposed to be in love with you?"_

" _I stood with Nik."_

" _True love overcomes all, does it not?" Kol said, a wicked smile on his face._

_Rebekah snorted. "Go date the teenage witch. I'm done with this conversation."_

" _If I must," Kol mumbled loud enough for Rebekah to hear._

_She walked up to the witch sitting at the table. "I think we're done for today."_

" _Is there anything else I may assist you with?"_

" _Not at the moment. Leave."_

_Satisfied with the fear in the witch's eyes and their frantic scurrying out the front door, Rebekah smiled and walked up the stairs to her room._

_She had spent the entire day irritable and upset, more than usual anyway, and she knew exactly why. She flopped down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She missed her friend and her niece, and she needed a good cry._

* * *

Day 183: Caroline

Caroline had never felt so alone. She was a people person, and even if she and Rebekah hadn't gotten along in the beginning, they had formed a strong friendship, and Caroline missed having someone to talk to.

She wondered if Elena was in on the secret yet. She had immediately disabled the app on her phone after the conversation they had, but she wanted to talk to her friend, even though they weren't on the best terms at the moment.

Elena was safe, she knew, but that didn't mean that she didn't worry. Hell, she worried about Klaus and he was practically invincible (although, as they now knew, that didn't mean that her worries were unjustified).

She was lonely, and she needed a friend. She was glad that, though Elena was out of the question, she wasn't cut off from all of her friends. As long as she didn't tell them where she was, what was the harm in calling them? Her fingers shook as her finger hovered over the name of the only friend that she hadn't made any contact with in the last six months.

She had called him once since he took off from town, and he hadn't called her back. At the time she had figured that he was grieving in his own way. When Elena had thought that Caroline was with Stefan, Caroline hadn't bothered correcting her. She had bigger things to do at that point.

Now though, Caroline was worried that Stefan hadn't called her. It felt wrong. He was her best friend, and even though he was off working in that car repair shop in Atlanta, he must not have been _that busy_ …too busy to call.

Although, to be fair, it's not like she had called him.

He was practically her brother, and she missed being able to talk to him. He was the only one that immediately supported her after she slept with Klaus. She knew that Elena was less than happy with her, but she hoped that Stefan would be more supportive.

Honestly, she kind of needed it.

Rebekah was Klaus's sister, and even though she wasn't exactly required to support her brother, she also wouldn't actively argue against his and Caroline's relationship based on Klaus's "evilness." If Rebekah did have an argument, it would be about Caroline.

Luckily, she seemed to approve.

This didn't change the fact that Caroline was almost positive that no one in Mystic Falls would see it that way, and for some reason, she felt like Stefan was a good moral-compass measure.

Before she lost her nerve, she tapped his number and heard the phone ring. He wasn't picking up, and she was about to hang up when she heard the rough voice of the friend she had missed the most.

"Caroline?"

"Stefan…" she said, her voice cracking slightly.

"Is everything okay…?"

"I don't know."

There was silence. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I…Just promise you won't get mad?"

"I promise I'll hear you out, but if you drowned a puppy we might have a problem," he said, some humor in his voice.

She laughed. "No. I didn't drown a puppy."

"What's going on?"

"I'm in love with Klaus," she said quietly.

"Okay?"

"What do you mean  _okay_?"

"Is that all? You're upset because you're in love with Klaus?"

"Not exactly. I just—Everyone's going to hate me."

"Let me guess, you told Elena and she blew up at you?" Stefan said dryly.

"Maybe…"

He sighed. "Everyone's going through a rough time right now, Care. Everyone has a right to grieve the way they need to."

"Are you seriously saying that I'm with Klaus because I'm  _grieving_? You think he's like, grief sex, or something?"

Stefan snorted. "No, I think that in true Caroline Forbes fashion, you took your grief and powered it into a project—that project being "getting the fuck away from Mystic Falls"—and figured out what pretty much everyone else already knew."

"Considering Elena blew up at me—"

"Elena's known for awhile, Caroline. Everyone has."

"Then shouldn't she have had time to get used to the idea?"

Stefan sighed.

"Remember how—no offense—you were really insecure as a human?"

"Yeah."

"Does it bother you a lot more than it should to see clingy, male-obsessed girls?"

"Kind of, I guess."

"That's because you see your old self in them, and it makes you angry at yourself. I do the same thing when I meet people without their bloodlust under control. It reminds me of myself, and I judge them harshly."

"So what you're saying is that Elena sees things she hates about herself in me?"

"Sort of. I think that Elena sees her love for Damon in you, and all it does is remind her of what she lost."

"That's deep."

He laughed quietly. "I try."

"I missed you Stefan."

"I missed you too, Care."

"Why didn't you call me?"

He sighed. "I'm trying to start over."

"That doesn't mean we can't have contact."

"I know. I guess I was just…I wanted to forget."

"Hmm. Well, what are you up to?"

"Well, I'm working in a car repair shop…I have a new girlfriend, Ivy."

"Does she know you're a vampire?"

"No. We're not even official, really."

"Why? Do you like her?"

"I do, but I don't want to burden her with my prob—"

"Oh my god, get over yourself."

He laughed, and she smiled.

"Just be honest with her. Tell her that your brother died and you want to be in a relationship with her but you want to make sure she knows that you might not be as emotionally available."

"We'll see."

"I'm sure we will."

"So, Klaus huh?"

"Yep."

"How did that happen?"

She laughed. "A  _lot_  of voicemails."


	9. Chapter 9

Day 184: Rebekah

"Here he is," Rebekah announced to Elijah, before dropping Mikael's body on the parlor floor with more force than was strictly necessary.

"So I see."

"We can get Nik back now, right?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Can I do anything to help?"

"Yes. Please call Bridgette, and inform her that we will begin the ritual shortly."

In short order, the witch arrived and had the ritual prepared.

There were two equilateral triangles carefully outlined in chalk on one of the floors of a spare dungeon cell connected by an edge, and Elijah had snapped Klaus's neck and laid his body in one of the triangles and Mikael's in the other.

At Rebekah's nod that they were ready, Bridgette started to chant. There was a slight rush of wind, and the torches in the room flared for a moment before settling down. Elijah immediately snapped Mikael's neck and brought him to a different cell.

"How will we deal with Esther?" Rebekah asked quietly.

"She will only be a concern once we destroy Mikael. I'm more concerned about Finn, to be perfectly honest."

"Why?"

"We have not seen or spoken to him yet."

Rebekah nodded her agreement. "Perhaps we should find him once Mikael is destroyed."

"That was my intent. For now, we must await the results of this ritual. We still do not know if we were successful."

Rebekah sank down onto the stone floor, while Elijah leaned against the wall, unwilling to soil his suit.

All they could do now was wait.

* * *

Day 184: Kol

Kol knocked quietly on the solid wooden door in front of him, and smiled at the brown-haired teenager that opened it. Davina really was a beautiful girl, as well as an incredibly powerful witch. It was a pity that she'd gotten caught up in all of this.

"Kaleb?"

He put on his most charming smile. "Hi Davina. I was wondering if you might like to go out to dinner with me?"

"Now?"

"If you like, but I'm free later this week if that's better."

"Today's fine," Davina said slowly, "I just need to check with Marcel."

"Your brother?"

He was trying to pretend he knew nothing of her life, even though at this point he'd really like nothing better than to throttle Marcel for what he had done to their family.

"Something like that," She said, shrugging.

He heard her walk farther into the apartment calling for Marcel, and cursed the loss of his vampire hearing when all he could make out were muffled voices. When Davina finally returned, she had her purse and a jacket. "Are you ready?"

"Of course."

She stepped out and walked beside him down the stairs. "Just so you know, I have to be back by eight."

"Eight is your curfew? That seems a little bit early."

She shrugged. "Marcel doesn't like me out too long after nightfall."

 _I wonder why,_ Kol thought to himself sarcastically.

They walked through the French Quarter to a small restaurant that Kol knew. After they were seated and had ordered, Davina rested her palms on the table and looked at Kol seriously.

"I know why you're here."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She sighed. "The fact that I resurrected The Destroyer isn't exactly a well-kept secret."

He pressed his lips together. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I know you want to get rid of him."

"I don't know what you're talking about," He repeated.

She sighed and looked at him nervously. "Look, even if you didn't want to get rid of him…I need your help. All I knew was that he hated Klaus, and I wanted to kill Klaus…for revenge, I mean, but I didn't realize that he wanted to kill all the vampires. I was working on unlinking the bloodlines, but I know that Mikael won't necessarily wait until I do that, because he doesn't care if all the vampires die, and Marcel…Well, I can't lose Marcel."

There were unshed tears in her eyes, and Kol had the gut feeling that she was being completely genuine with her concerns.

"I think I'm in a little over my head here," She said, her voice trembling, "Everyone was telling me that I was powerful and could do anything, but I don't think I can do this. He needs to be stopped. Mikael, I mean. I do want to get revenge on Klaus, but Mikael is a problem."

Kol nodded. "Mikael does need to be stopped, and I can help you."

"Can you?" She said, brightening a little bit.

"Yes. But, you're going to have to trust me a little bit. I have contacts that you might not like."

"It's fine. Thank you, Kaleb."

_Don't thank me yet, darling…_

* * *

Day 184: Caroline

They walked down the street, Caroline reveling in the feeling of the sun and outside air on her skin. She and Hope were going grocery shopping that day, and Caroline was happy to get out of the apartment. They were going to take a walk through Golden Gate Park first though, and Caroline hummed as she walked down the street, her purse slung over one shoulder with Hope gurgling happily in the stroller.

She suddenly felt someone's eyes resting on her and turned around to see a slim woman with curly black hair eyeing her distrustfully.

She frowned and turned back to keep walking when she felt an aneurism explode in her head. She grit her teeth and fought the impulse to fall down onto her knees, instead jumping to shield the stroller with her body.

The aneurism stopped and she looked up to see the woman- _witch_ -looking down at her hatefully. "Why are you here, Vampire?"

Caroline pushed down her initial sarcastic response ("I live here"), and tried to find one that would be more diplomatic.

"Going to the grocery store."

"With a mortal baby?" The witch said incredulously, eyeing Hope, who was eyeing the conversation with interest.

Caroline moved slightly to further shield Hope from the woman.

"Yes."

"Did you steal the baby?"

Caroline fought down her impulse to laugh at the irony of the very same question being asked to her that she had thrown at Rebekah the first day in the car.

"No."

"Give me your hand," the witch said, still suspicious.

Without other options, Caroline obligingly held out her hand for the witch to grasp. She felt a rush of a prickling sensation spread through her fingers, and the witch suddenly dropped her hand and looked up at her in surprise. "Your daughter."

Caroline struggled to suppress her initial confusion-she had never been a good liar, unfortunately-and then nodded.

Her daughter.

The witch identified Hope as her daughter. Witches detected lies… Caroline knew that she cared for Hope and was willing to be a mother figure, but to know that she truly inwardly thought of Hope as her daughter…

She realized that it didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would.

"How?" The witch asked, looking slightly lost.

"I-I was turned right after she was born," Caroline said, hoping that the shaking of her voice would be attributed to sadness at her backstory rather than the realization of the truth of the statement that the witch had pointed out to her.

"Right after she was  _born_? She's less than a year old. You can't possibly have the control…"

"I think you'll find that a good mother will do anything to protect their children," Caroline said, her voice icy, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to avoid the subway's after-school rush hour, and I think that you most likely have better things to do than harass me for trying to buy food for my daughter."

She walked away, but the witch fell into step beside her. "By 'buy food' you mean 'steal by compulsion,' correct?"

"I don't think Safeway would miss the five jars of gerber's and a pack of diapers, but since you're so concerned for the multi-million dollar corporation's well-being, you should know that I clip coupons," Caroline said irritably.

The witch looked slightly chastened.

"How do you feed?" She asked.

"What is this, the inquisition?"

"Do you feed on innocent people? Steal blood bags from the hospital?"

Caroline turned to glare at the nosey woman, one hand on her hip and the other keeping the stroller steady. "Well, since you so  _kindly_  asked, the hospitals here have excellent security, so I can't get blood bags. Instead, I overheard some idiot who was planning to date-rape a girl and compelled him to give me blood whenever I texted him. Do you have any additional concerns, or can I go now?"

The witch shrugged and Caroline whirled around, stomping towards the subway stop.

* * *

Day 184: Klaus

He was hungry.

He could feel the gritty stone floor against his back and carefully sat up, his eyes snapping open once he was upright. Rebekah sat on the floor outside the door, reading a book.

"Bekah?" He croaked.

She looked up, smiling brightly. "Did it work?"

"By 'it' I assume you mean whatever ritual you and Elijah concocted to eject Mikael's soul from my body?"

"Yes."

"Well, it did, but that's what Mikael would say."

She rolled her eyes. "Who was I willing to become human to be with?"

"Which time, little sister? The most recent incident with the idiot quarterback, you mean?"

"That's Nik, all right. Tell it like it is, big brother," A jovial voice sang, revealing itself to be Kol as he came into Klaus's view.

"Am I allowed out yet?" Klaus asked.

"I'll call Bridgette to take down the containment spell once Mikael wakes up."

"Is he next door?"

Rebekah nodded.

"Where's Esther?"

"In her cell where you left her. She doesn't seem to know anything we don't already," Kol said boredly, inspecting his nails.

"Do you know where Finn is, then?"

Kol eyed Klaus, a small smile on his face. "I've always known where Finn is, big brother."

Rebekah smacked him upside the head. "Harsh, Bekah. No need to be so violent. I don't heal myself anymore, remember?" Kol said, rubbing his head.

"And you'd do well to remember that so as not to incur her wrath," Elijah said dryly, having apparently just arrived, "Mikael has woken up, Niklaus. I shall call Bridgette to free you. I anticipated that you might be thirsty, so I have taken the liberty of sending one of your hybrids to retrieve a human."

"Thank you, brother."

Elijah nodded.

"So, what are we going to do about Finn and Mother?" Kol asked, getting back to the issue at hand.

"Do you know what Esther's plans were?'

"Yes. She was going to move our souls into the bodies of witches, able to body jump when our vessels died, therefore allowing us to live forever," Kol said cheerfully.

Klaus made a face. "Do you want that, Kol?"

Kol shook his head. "I want my own body back. Unfortunately, I think Finn was all aboard with Mother's grand plan."

"Well, he'll have to be taken care of as well, then," Klaus said, unconcerned.

"Brother…" Elijah started his reprimand, before Klaus interrupted him.

"Elijah, Finn loathes what we have become, and I have no wish to be transported into the body of a pathetically mortal witch."

"Killing him is not the answer, Niklaus."

"Well, neither is allowing him to live and plot against us."

"And that, Nik, is why daggers were invented," Kol cut in, grinning, "And as you are dagger-happy yourself, it shouldn't be a problem."

Both Elijah and Klaus grimaced at Kol's suggestion, not wanting to compromise, but Rebekah nodded along with Kol's solution.

"Fine, then. We still must get rid of Esther."

"Niklaus, I don't think-"

Kol rolled his eyes at Elijah's reproachful tone and sped off. Klaus knew what his impulsive brother was going to do even before he returned, tossing the necklace between his hands. "I'll just throw this in the fire, shall I?"

Klaus shrugged.

"Kol, I do not think-"

But Kol was already off, and Elijah pinched the bridge of his nose. "Must you encourage him?" He asked Klaus irritably.

Klaus put his hands up in the classic gesture of surrender. "I didn't do anything."

"Yes, but you cannot just-just  _toss_ Esther's soul into a fire. That's-"

"Just? Well-deserved? Karma?" Klaus suggested boredly.

"She's our mother!"

"Who has tried to kill us multiple times."

"Are we so much better Niklaus?"

Klaus shrugged. "I don't kill in the name of what is right. I kill in the name of food and boredom. However, I also take responsibility for my actions. She prefers to live in a fantasy world where assisting your insane husband in murdering your children is completely appropriate."

"She still deserves a more dignified burial than to have her soul thrown into a fire."

"Why? It was good enough for Voldemort, and he's only a little bit less evil than she is," Rebekah said, clearly trying to break the tension.

Elijah must have realized that he had lost the battle, and gave a dignified huff. "Well, either way, Bridgette will arrive soon to free you, and we must locate Finn."

Kol skidded to a halt next to Elijah, having just sped back from whatever poor fire had been subjected to Esther's soul. "I also have news about Davina."

"Do you?" Klaus asked.

"Yes. Davina was the one who resurrected Mikael, because she wanted revenge on you, brother. However, it seems that she's in a bit over her head, and she wants my-or rather, Kaleb's-help to banish him."

"He needs to be banished permanently," Klaus said, "We can't have him coming back again."

"That will involve the definite destruction of the Other Side."

"The Other Side was already destroyed," Rebekah said quietly.

Kol swiveled around to look at his sister. "Was it?"

"Yes. Bonnie Bennett destroyed it, taking herself with it."

"Pity, I always liked the Bennett witch."

Rebekah sighed. "Well, I've been working on a way to get it back."

Klaus nodded, knowing that Caroline had been determined to retrieve the Bennett witch and the idiot Salvatore from the remnants of the Other Side.

Kol shook his head slowly. "I don't think there's a way."

"With magic, there's always a way. There's always a loophole," Rebekah argued.

"That's just the problem little sister, destroying the Other Side  _was_ the loophole. The Bennett witch didn't create a spell, she ended one. It can't come back, Bekah."

"It has to," Rebekah argued.

Kol sighed. "I don't know why you want them back anyway, Bekah, but they can't come back. It's not possible."

Klaus grimaced. Caroline would be devastated. Rebekah seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"But Bonnie…"

"Was the anchor," Kol interrupted, "Even if the souls that were destroyed with the other side could come back, she couldn't. The Other Side was destroyed literally by destroying her. The only possible way that she could be alive would be to create a pocket."

Rebekah seemed to consider this for a moment, but Klaus cut in with a question.

"A pocket?"

"A pocket," Rebekah explained, "Is sort-of a mini-dimension. The Other Side was an entire connected dimension to here, but a pocket isn't a whole dimension, it's like...a separated part of a dimension. In order to be saved, Bonnie would have had to create a pocket that connected to our side, and then move to the pocket just before the Other Side collapsed."

"Although, theoretically it doesn't have to be her creating the pocket, it could have been another witch. Either way, unless we knew that she was in a pocket, as well as which specific pocket she's in, the Bennett witch is on her own to escape back to our world," Kol added.

Rebekah was silent for a moment, before exchanging a look with Klaus, the silent question in their eyes.

_Who's going to tell Caroline?_

* * *

Day 186, The Pocket

The only thing Bonnie Bennett wanted more at the moment than to get out of this godforsaken dimension was to have her magic back so that she could give Damon an aneurism while they waited.

"Listen, Judgy. There's clearly nothing we can do. We are stuck here. Forever."

She sighed. "Damon, my Grams clearly sent us here, so there has to be a way back."

Damon made a show of looking around them. "Hmm...Trees, trees, and more trees. We found a pond an hour or two that way," he pointed, "but other than that, all there are here is trees. There's _totally_  an escape route here."

Bonnie sighed. It was true, her Grams had transported them into what seemed like a never ending forest. There was no food or water (which was fine, since they were dead), no shelter (slightly more of a problem), and no beds.

Normally, Bonnie wouldn't complain. She considered herself to be a resilient person, and a little old-style camping never hurt anyone. But that attitude had lasted less than three days, and they had been wandering around for weeks.

Weeks.

"Be careful or I might stake you," She mumbled.

She could, too. The nice thing about trees was that they were made of wood.

"Theoretically, I'd just come back from the dead."

"We're not sure about that, yet. If you keep on being this annoying, I'm willing to take my chances."

"Well, as I haven't dessicated yet, I'm going to assume that I don't need blood to survive. Therefore, I'm dead."

"Yeah, but you took off your daylight ring to test whether you'd burn in the sun-"

"No,  _you_ took off my daylight ring. I may have purposefully run a car into a grill before a bomb went off, but I'm not that suicidal."

"I gave it back once we realized that you'd burn," Bonnie said, slightly defensively.

"Well it's lucky that magic still works here, or-"

"Oh my god."

"What?" He said, turning to look at her.

Magic works here.

She's not the anchor anymore.

She's a witch.

Magic works here…

"Incendium," she chanted, pointed her hand at a nearby branch.

The branch burst into flame.

"I have my magic back!" She shouted gleefully, almost giving into the urge to jump up and down.

Damon stared numbly at the branch. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're an idiot," Bonnie sang happily, waving her hand to extinguish the fire.

"Well, great. You have your magic back. We  _still_ don't have a way to get out of here."

"Why do you say that?"

He glared at her. "What do you know about magic? About inventing spells? You're a baby witch, Bonnie. You don't know enough about magic to get us out of here. All this means is that you can make us a campfire."

She gave him an aneurism.

* * *

Day 187: Rebekah

"We have to tell her, Nik," Rebekah said quietly, running her hand down the shelf of grimmoires.

"We can't contact her, Rebekah. You know that."

"That's just an excuse. You just don't want to tell her that she can't get Bonnie back."

"Well, why don't  _you_  call her then?"

Rebekah was silent. Klaus raised an eyebrow at her, and she huffed.

"Look," Klaus continued, trying to placate her, "Why don't we take this one step at a time. The first thing we need to do is capture Finn. Then, we need to figure out how to return him and Kol to their bodies so that we can safely dagger him. "

"You're not planning to dagger Kol too, are you?" Rebekah asked, a little nervous.

Klaus gave her a serious look. "The only reason he was daggered in the first place was because he drew too much attention when we were running from Mikael. Now that Mikael is locked in a cell, I see no reason to dagger him again."

Rebekah knew that her brother was telling the truth. Even though he spouted threats about daggers and stakes and murders, he loved his siblings, and she suspected that the death of Kol hit him harder than the rest of them, simply because he knew that he'd prevented Kol from living the life that he deserved.

Of course, having to sit in the same room as his brother's dead body for days might also have contributed to his grief.

Rebekah sighed. "Well, the first thing we need to do is locate Kol's body so that we can summon it.

"Do you know where it is?"

"No, but I might know someone who does," Rebekah said quietly, grinning maliciously.

* * *

When Rebekah pushed open the doppelganger's (temporary) bedroom door, the girl looked up from her book and then calmly stuck a bookmark in it and closed it.

"Rebekah."

"Elena."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Where is Kol's body?"

Elena's eyes narrowed a fraction, before she sat up fully and took on the stance Rebekah had seen her take when she was about to do something utterly idiotic.

"I don't know."

"Oh good lord," Rebekah muttered, "Look, it's not like I'm on a quest for world domination here, or anything. I just want my brother's body."

"Why?'

"That is none of your business."

Elena shrugged and opened her book again. "Well, since it's none of my business there's no reason for me to help."

Rebekah growled. "Tell me now, or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill my family?" Elena said with a bitter laugh, "Jeremy is in Mystic Falls where you can't get to him, you wouldn't lay a finger on Matt, and Caroline is safe wherever-she-is with Mystery Baby. You don't have any leverage."

"But I know how to get your pathetic boyfriend back."

Elena sat up straighter.

"He's gone," She said, her voice shaking.

 _Only if they don't find a way out,_ Rebekah reasoned with herself.

"He doesn't have to be," Rebekah said, picking her nails.

"Fine. I'll tell you how to get your brother's body back if you tell me how to get him back?"

"You first," Rebekah said.

Elena narrowed her eyes. "No."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, well, guess you don't want to know badly enough."

She turned to leave, and smirked to herself when she heard Elena's cry for her to wait from behind her.

"What? I don't have time for this, doppelganger."

"We buried him in the woods."

"You  _what?_ "

Elena sighed. "We buried Kol in the woods near the cemetery. I can't remember exactly where. Is that enough to go on?"

Rebekah shrugged. "I suppose."

"So? How do I get him and Bonnie back?"

"I said nothing about Bonnie." Rebekah answered.

"But they're in the same place, aren't they?"

Rebekah inwardly convinced herself that the doppelganger deserved what she was going to get. After all, she really should have been more specific.

"Your boyfriend is in Atlanta, by the way. With another woman."

"That's not possible," Elena said, her eyes wide.

Rebekah shrugged. "Well, he knew you left after Damon died. He wanted to get away from the whole thing I suppose."

"What are you talking about? I want to get  _Damon_ back."

"Oh, I thought you meant Stefan," Rebekah said, a malicious smile on her face, "Wrong boyfriend. Well, I suppose I'm out of date with which brother you're manipulating these days. Hmm, my mistake."

She slammed the door closed and sped off before Elena could say another word.

* * *

Day 188: Matt

"I'm not your errand boy, Rebekah," Matt said into his phone, sighing.

"Please?"

"Look, I just got away from all of this shit, and you want me to find and dig up your brother's dead body?"

"I know it's a lot to ask-"

"Yeah. It kinda is."

He heard her sigh. "Look, I just want my brother back. Can you help? Please?"

He was conflicted. On one hand, he knew what it was like to lose a sibling. On the other, his sibling wasn't a killer.

Well, not on purpose.

He would give anything in the world to get Vicki back, if he was honest with himself, but he had reconciled himself to the fact that she was gone. Rebekah should do the same.

But...If someone could help him get Vicki back, would he ask them?

Yes, he would.

"Fine. I'll do it."

"Really?" He heard Rebekah ask, relief and joy prevalent in her voice.

"Yeah."

"When do you think you'll have it?"

He sighed. "Probably the day after tomorrow?"

"Great! I'll send a jet over to bring you to New Orleans with-"

"Woah. I'm  _not_ going to New Orleans. You can send your jet to pick up Kol. That's it. I'm not getting caught up in this shit again."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Okay," Rebekah said in a small voice.

The line went dead, and he swore. He hated hearing her upset-well, hearing anyone upset, really-and knowing that it was him made him feel awful.

It didn't help that he wasn't exactly over her.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He didn't want to deal with this again. He was  _happy_  that the bubble had gone over Mystic Falls because it meant he wouldn't have to. If he got involved with Rebekah, he would turn someday, and that's the last thing he wanted.

 _Not necessarily,_ a little voice in his head said,  _you can just do it for now. She'll get bored eventually… Live a little._

No. Definitely not. He wouldn't let this vampire stuff invade his life again. He couldn't.

He tried to remind himself of this as he grabbed the shovel from his toolshed and drove off towards the cemetery.

* * *

Day 189: Kol

"Davina, I think I know how to destroy him."

"Really?" Davina asked, her eyes lighting up as she twirled her pasta around her fork.

"Yes. We need to do an exorcism spell. The Other Side was destroyed, and as a result Mikael's soul would be sent into Oblivion."

"It's that easy?"

Kol nodded, smiling slightly. "It's that easy."

"Well, for that you'd need Mikael's body-"

"Which my contacts have."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"How?"

"Well, let's just say that they have a way of getting what they want."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're allied with the Originals."

He nodded slowly, and she stood up, furious.

"How can you do this? You promised you'd help."

"And I am helping," He said quietly.

"But...But you lied to me."

"Did I?" He asked calmly, taking a sip of his lemonade.

"How do you know them, anyway?"

He looked at her seriously. "Would you like to have dinner on Tuesday?"

He had taken a liking to her, and he was confident that once he had his body back he could convince her to take a chance on him. The vessel that his mother had chosen had not been blessed with the good looks he had in his original body.

Pun intended.

"Would I  _what?_ "

He repeated his question.

"You're asking me out after you  _tricked_  me?"

"Is that a yes?" He asked, smirking slightly.

" _No_."

He shrugged. "I'll pick you up at six."

"I- _what_?"

He threw forty dollars on the table and got up, grabbing his jacket.

"Until then, darling."

He smirked at Davina's stunned face and left.

* * *

Day 190: Rebekah

She waited in the living room for the hybrid to come back from the airport. She hadn't been happy about the hybrids originally, but she could now see the use in them. She had been trying to read, but could concentrate. She kept checking the clock. Kol was sitting next to her, and he was having about as much success reading as she was.

The doorbell rang, and Rebekah sped off to answer it. She unlocked it and saw a hybrid on the doorstep, the coffin resting behind him.

"Where do you want it?" The hybrid asked.

"In the living room," Rebekah said, pointing behind her and starting to close the door.

"Wait, the guy who came with it said he was staying here."

_The guy who came with it?_

She frowned. "Who?"

The hybrid suddenly looked terrified. "He brought the coffin. He said that you told him to come with it. Was I not supposed to take him?"

Rebekah looked over the hybrid's shoulder and saw Matt walking up the front drive, rolling a battered suitcase behind him, holding a cell phone to his ear.

"He came," she whispered.

"So...I'm not in trouble?" The hybrid asked nervously.

"No. Leave."

He didn't need to be told twice.

She heard Matt's conversation as he walked up. "No, Tyler, I'm fine. I just needed to get away for awhile," Rebekah snorted at the excuse, recognizing it as the same one Caroline gave, "I'll be back, I promise. Yeah, talk to you soon."

He hung up and looked at Rebekah, a little nervously.

"So…"

She rolled her eyes and took the handle of his suitcase, lifting it up with ease. "I'll show you your room."

He grinned, and she felt her heart lighten just a little.

* * *

Rebekah stood on the side of the room, watching Kol sit boredly in one of the triangles, his body laying in the other. Bridgette had performed the restoration spell on his body in the afternoon, and they were about to transfer Kol's soul.

Rebekah watched Bridgette prepare to chant, the candles lighting up in front of her.

There was a heavy rush of wind while she spoke, her voice ringing across the room.

Kol's eyes suddenly rolled back in his head, and his body started shaking. All of a sudden, he slumped to the floor, and Kol's resurrected body jerked.

He sat up, rubbing his head, his veins immediately descending as he looked at the witch, who was breathing deeply from chanting. Rebekah immediately rushed forward and snapped Kol's neck.

She couldn't have him eating the help.

"Great!" Rebekah said brightly, "Now, I'll just move him and bring Finn, shall I?"

She, Kol, and Klaus had talked when Elijah had gone out, and they decided that finding Finn's body would be too difficult. In addition, it would be too dangerous to give Finn as much strength and speed as they had, just in case he decided to use it against them.

It had been decided then, after much consideration (meaning that Klaus had suggested it and Rebekah and Kol had immediately seen the merit of the idea) it had been decided that Finn's soul would be transferred into the body of a four-hundred year old vampire and then desiccated.

She lugged Kol to his bedroom, dropping him on the bed, and then bringing a cooler of blood bags to sit next to him. She'd bring him a human later, but for now he'd have to do with the cold blood. She made a face. It really was disgusting.

Rebekah went back down to the dungeons and retrieved a drugged Finn from a cell, bringing him back to the ritual room and setting him into the triangle. The compelled vampire was already standing in the other one, and Klaus was waiting next to him.

"Begin, Bridgette," He ordered.

They'd really have to work on his pleases and thank-yous before Hope started talking. The last thing they needed was for her witch-vampire-werewolf-hybrid-thing niece to turn out a brat.

Bridgette started chanting again, and she watched the witch Finn had been possessing twitch and then slump into the floor, and the vampire collapse, before his eyes fluttered open.

"Desiccate him, Bridgette," Klaus ordered again.

Yes. They most  _definitely_ needed to work on his manners.


	10. Chapter 10

Day 191: Klaus

If Klaus Mikaelson had to come up with the one action in the world that he would do pretty much anything to avoid, it'd be waiting.

Unfortunately for Klaus Mikaelson, the one action in the world that he was most intimately familiar with was waiting.

Frankly, he was incredibly tired of waiting, and he'd really rather become more intimately familiar with the action of fucking Caroline Forbes repeatedly until she couldn't remember her own name.

He let himself sigh loudly, causing Elijah and Kol to look up from their respective tasks for a moment before returning to them. Kol was researching exorcism spells, and was trying to find some way to expel Mikael's soul into Oblivion. He apparently was seeing Davina on Tuesday, and Kol was fairly confident that he could convince her to help them. Klaus wasn't so sure, but then again Kol always had a way with witches.

Elijah, on the other hand, seemed to be fiddling with a laptop computer. "What are you doing?" Klaus asked.

Elijah looked up for a moment and then let his eyes flicker back down to the screen. "I am attempting to contact Marcellus. He appears to have either ceased using his previous email address or has been ignoring my inquiries for any information he may have."

Klaus snorted. "He's most likely ignoring you."

Elijah gave Klaus an exasperated look. "Well, what would you have me do, Niklaus? We must attempt to gather information from him. After all, Davina was under his watch as she resurrected Mikael."

Klaus shrugged. "Kol is seeing her this Tuesday, aren't you?" He asked, turning to face his younger brother, who had glanced up at the mention of his name.

"I'll ask Marcel if he knows anything, although I won't be held accountable if I rip his throat out when he provokes me."

" _If_ he provokes you," Elijah corrected.

Klaus and Kol snorted at the same time.

There was a period of silence again as his brothers returned to their tasks and Klaus rested his head on the arm of the couch.

He hadn't talked to Caroline or seen his daughter in a little less than two weeks, and he missed them both. It was an odd feeling, to be honest. He missed seeing his daughter's tiny face light up with joy whenever she saw him, and watching her play with Caroline and Rebekah.

He missed Caroline. He missed  _everything_ about Caroline. He let his mind wander, hoping that they were safe in the city that she had chosen. He had faith in her to choose the location well, but he hoped that they wouldn't have to stay there for too long.

He just wanted this whole business to be over with. He wanted to be able to spend time with both of them. He'd already missed half a year of his daughter's development, and while he would probably never admit it to anyone out loud, he wanted to be there with her forever.

Always and forever.

He wondered what they were doing now. Was Caroline sitting on the floor with Hope while they read a book? Perhaps they were watching television? Maybe they were having lunch. He could see the scene in his mind's eye, he saw Caroline smiling as she tried to get Hope to eat some hideous gloppy-looking baby food from a jar, while Hope stubbornly refused to open her mouth, with the same glare on her face that Rebekah had told him that he often wore.

He grabbed one of his sketchbooks from the shelf and began to sketch the picture in his head, but he just couldn't make it transfer onto paper the way he wanted it to. He spent about twenty minutes scratching his pencil across the paper trying to find the right lines and shadows.

When Klaus gave another dramatic long-suffering sigh, Elijah cleared his throat. "Niklaus, would you mind terribly to wallow in self-pity somewhere away from those of us who are attempting to use their time productively? In your bedroom, perhaps?"

"I'm sure he could use his time in his bedroom  _very_ productively, assuming that Rebekah wasn't lying when she told me that you were still obsessing over that blonde cheerleader. Although, as I recall she did say that she'd rather die of thirst than let you even buy her a drink. And, you know, it occurred to me just now, that statement could be taken in a very different—"

"The offer to remove your liver is still open, Kol."

"Oh, I never doubted its lack of expiration date, Nik."

Klaus growled at his brother, but Kol just gave him an impish grin and continued speaking, "I'm sure there are other options than die of  _thirst_ , after all. Perhaps she'd rather just get her sustenance from another sour—"

Klaus sped over and snapped Kol's neck in a practiced move and Elijah massaged his temples.

"Must you, Niklaus?"

"Must I what?" Klaus asked irritably.

"If you had been listening to our conversation a few moments ago you would have known that Kol believed that he had a lead on the spell. Unfortunately, now we shall have to wait for him to regain consciousness before he can research more thoroughly."

Klaus groaned and sank back on the couch.

Just what he needed. More waiting.

* * *

Day 192, The Pocket

"Do you  _mind_?" Bonnie asked irritably, opening her eyes to glare at Damon, who was juggling tree pinecones looking incredibly bored.

"What?"

"You're distracting me."

Damon just huffed, and Bonnie rolled her eyes before returning to her meditation.

She was trying to connect with the Spirits, although she wasn't sure whether it was possible. If the other side had been destroyed, did that mean that the Spirits had gone too? Did they get sent Peace or Oblivion like the other supernatural souls?

She gave up about twenty minutes later, frowning and pursing her lips. How were they supposed to get out of there with no Spirit magic? Would she have to learn a new form of magic?

"Damon?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't need to recharge with blood, right?"

"Nope."

"Could you take a run around here and see if you can find the pond?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

He sped off before she could say another word.

She felt like there was something significant about the pond. There had to be. There was some sort of puzzle her Grams wanted her to solve. She just needed the right tools…

* * *

Day 193: Kol

He knocked on the door at six o'clock on the dot, and smiled to himself when he heard some rustling behind the door.

"Go away," Davina called.

"No, I'd rather not."

The door opened a crack.

"Who are you?" Davina asked, peering through it.

"Surely you recognize me, darling?"

She eyed him for a moment before opening the door wider. "You're a vampire."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not inviting you in," She continued.

"That's fine. After all, I said we were going  _out_  to dinner."

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I asked you last week. We were at a diner, you ordered lemonade, threw an adorable little temper tantrum. Ring any bells?"

"Kaleb…?" She asked hesitantly.

"Close," Kol said grinning, "I actually prefer—"

"What the  _fuck_ are you doing here?" Marcel called, having just walked into the living room.

Kol smiled. "Marcellus! So good to see you, mate."

"Kol."

"Hmm. I seem to remember being Uncle Kol, but I suppose I'll have to do with the demotion. You did, after all, attempt to kill your family including me."

Davina frowned. "So wait, you're Kol? An Original?"

"Yes, darling."

She suddenly looked furious. "What did you do with Kaleb?"

Kol shrugged. "I don't know. I just got my old body back a few days ago, so I'm not sure what my brother did to him, to be honest."

"Wait, you—"

"Yes. I possessed Kaleb, told you that I wanted to kill Mikael—was  _not_ lying about that by the way, darling—and asked you to dinner at six today."

"Well, I don't want to go," She said, glaring at him and preparing to slam the door in his face.

Marcel put a hand on her shoulder. "Davina, could you give us a minute?"

She shot a suspicious glance between Marcel and Kol, but nodded reluctantly, retreating into the apartment. "What are you  _doing_?" Marcel asked, although he sounded more irritated than angry.

"Well, I was  _trying_ to take her to Lilette before you rudely interrupted our conversation."

Marcel huffed. "You do realize that that's basically dating your niece, right?"

Kol raised an eyebrow. "Is she a blood relation?"

"No, but—"

"And were you and Bekah  _not_ in a committed romantic relationship even though she was basically your mother figure?"

"Well—"

"Exactly."

"No, we were both consenting adults. Davina is seventeen, and how old are you?"

"Over a thousand years old, including the time I spent in a coffin."

"Exactly. That's quite an age difference."

"Oh yes, because eight hundred years is  _so_ much better. Either which way, all I was going to do was ask her a few questions about Mikael and pay for a nice dinner."

"She doesn't want to go," Marcel almost growled, moving to block the doorway even though Kol hadn't been invited in.

Kol shrugged. "Well, she's welcome not to come, but I have some information on how we're dealing with Mikael, and I'd very much appreciate her assistance. If she doesn't want to, then of course her help is not required, although I doubt Nik would look favorably on her refusing to assist him with keeping his kingdom in check, especially as she was the one to get us into this mess in the first place."

Davina came back into the room slowly, and Kol wouldn't be surprised if she had been standing next to the door eavesdropping.

"I'll go," She said quietly.

Marcel turned to look at her. "You don't have to."

"I promised I'd help, and I will keep that promise. Even if I hadn't, The Destroyer has to die, and I'm not going to accidentally prevent his death because I'm too scared to leave my apartment."

Marcel sighed and turned to Kol.

"Look," He said, quietly enough that Davina couldn't hear, "I know I can't threaten you, but you already know that I care about her…Just please don't hurt her. She's like a kid sister to me."

"I'll have her home by nine," Kol said, winking.

Marcel rolled his eyes.

Davina had apparently grabbed her purse and jacket and walked to the door.

"Ready, darling?"

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "This isn't a date."

"Of course it's not."

She snorted quietly and brushed past him, striding towards the staircase. When he didn't immediately follow, she spun around. "Well? Are you coming?"

He nodded, smirking.

Marcel sighed and gave Kol a pleading look.

"I'll make sure nothing happens," Kol muttered.

"Thank you."

* * *

They sat at the table in Lilette, one of the best and most expensive restaurants in the city. "So?"

Kol smirked. "So."

"Are we really playing this game?" Davina asked, looking annoyed and primly setting her napkin in her lap.

"I found an exorcism spell, but I'll need you to do it. We have another witch, but I don't know if she's powerful enough."

"What's the spell?"

"You can look it over at the mansion."

She raised her eyebrows. "I'm not going to the mansion."

"Unfortunately, you have to," Kol said apologetically.

He really did feel bad, too. The poor girl was clearly in over her head, and though she was trying to put on a brave front, Kol could tell that she was terrified. The waiter came to their table, and sensing Davina's discomfort, he asked for another moment or two.

"When are we going to do it?" She asked as soon as the waiter was out of earshot.

"Tonight."

" _Tonight?_ "

"Yes. But before we do, you need some food in you, and we happen to be in one of the best restaurants in the city. Do you know what you'd like to order?"

She opened her mouth and closed it again, looking rather shell-shocked. "Um, I can make a snap decision, I guess."

After they ordered, Kol turned back to Davina.

"We need to do it around midnight. I told Marcel I'd have you home a little bit earlier than that, but I'll have Bekah go retrieve him once we're all set up at the mansion. We'd need him around in the case of complications anyway."

Davina nodded slowly, still clearly a bit panicky.

"Would you like to know a bit more about the spell?" Kol asked.

"Yes, please."

Kol did not consider himself a gentleman. He prided himself on being as inappropriate as possible at all times. However, there was something about seeing the tiny terrified girl that had made a huge mistake looking to him for help that tugged on his heartstrings. He usually would have just flashed her to the mansion, had her don the spell, and then killed her, but somehow he knew he couldn't do that.

He knew that it was probably just the timing. Davina had come into the situation in New Orleans right as he was being reborn into the world. She reminded him a bit of Rebekah when she was first starting lessons with him and their mother. And even though he'd rather stake himself than admit it to her, he knew that Rebekah was probably his favorite sibling.

Although, to be fair, she was really all of her brothers' favorite sibling.

Davina looked at him with huge terrified eyes, and he smiled slightly. "It's really just a simple exorcism spell with a twist," he began, pulling a pen from his jacket pocket and drawing on a receipt from his wallet to show her the ritual diagram, "All you have to do is set up the ritual and read this spell…"

* * *

Day 193: Rebekah

Mikael's body was lying spread-eagle in the middle of the pentagram, his eyes open but vacant. She sighed quietly while she continued to carefully measure out the required reagents and put them in her proper places, keeping half an ear out for her brother and the girl to arrive.

She liked Davina well enough, although they had definitely gotten off to a bad start. She wasn't exactly Rebekah's favorite person in the world, but she was tolerable. Rebekah had just finished setting up the bowl of pure water when her brother and Davina entered the ritual room.

"Hello, Rebekah."

"Davina."

Kol clapped his hands together. "Are you ready, darling?" He asked, turning to Davina.

The girl nodded somewhat shakily, but took her position at the edge of the pentagram, kneeling in front of the grimmoire, which she had opened to the correct page.

"You're going to want to stand outside," She said quietly.

The Original siblings looked at each other and then back at Davina. Kol jerked his head towards the exit, and they left to stand just outside the doorway.

They observed the witch as she put her palms on her knees and closed her eyes. The torches burst into flame, and one of the bowls of herbs started smoking. Davina started chanting, closing her eyes tightly as the wind howled around her. Kol sat by the door, his face stony, observing the girl work. Davina's nose started bleeding, and Rebekah saw him flinch as though he were about to intervene, but the impulse seemed to vanish almost as soon as it came.

They stood there for what felt like hours, but it was probably only minutes, as Davina chanted, eventually causing tears to fall down her face and blood to drip down her chin.

Suddenly, the wind stopped and Davina collapsed onto the floor, her body limp and her cheeks and chin stained with blood.

Kol immediately rushed into the chamber, checking Davina's pulse. Rebekah entered in a more dignified manner, bending over Mikael's body and trying to sense any movement. She worked somewhat mechanically while she considered the new development between her brother and the teenage witch.

She couldn't say she was surprised, honestly. Kol liked powerful witches, and for some reason powerful witches tended to like him. Davina was wickedly intelligent, powerful, and could hold her own in a sass-battle. In other words, she was practically perfect for him.

Rebekah sighed quietly before looking to Kol, who was gathering Davina up in his arms. Rebekah could sense her heartbeat, but still decided to inquire about Davina's health.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure. Return to your quarterback, Bekah."

Rebekah fought the urge to snicker as she watched her brother carry Davina out of the room, and then made to leave.

"Wait, Bekah?"  
"Yes, Kol?"

"Tell Nik. So that he can call the cheerleader, I mean."

"Caroline."

"Beg pardon?"

"Her name is Caroline."

Kol raised his eyebrows. "How interesting. Well, dear sister, shall I take that to mean you've made friends with Nik's latest conquest?"

Rebekah smiled slightly. "Caroline is different. She's not a conquest."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Kol said, smirking and turning to leave.

Rebekah flashed to stand in front of him. "So, brother… How's  _your_  latest conquest?" She asked, her eyes flicking down to the girl in Kol's arms.

Kol shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "I don't know, I'll tell you when she wakes up."

He flashed off, and Rebekah allowed herself to roll her eyes. Who would have thought that all it would take to make her brothers grow up was a war against some surprisingly competent newbie vampires, an attempted hostile takeover of their old neighborhood, and a baby?

She smirked, sent a quick text to Klaus, and decided that she'd wait until both him and Kol got over themselves and settled into actual relationships to bring out the I-told-you-sos.

She entered her bedroom as quietly as possible, trying not to disturb the sleeping man in the bed. She slipped under the covers and snuggled up next to him, smiling slightly as his arm automatically curled around her waist and tugged her in to rest against his chest.

"How'd it go?" Matt asked sleepily.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"'Sokay."

"It went fine," Rebekah said quietly.

"Good."

He buried his nose in her hair, and then pulled away slightly. "So, will Caroline and your niece be back soon?"

She rolled over quickly to stare at him. "How…?"

He smiled. "For people that have been around a thousand years, you're still shitty at keeping secrets. Don't worry, I won't tell."

He kissed her softly and then settled back into sleep.

Rebekah fell asleep soon after, a small smile on her face.

* * *

Day 194: Caroline

Caroline rolled over towards the noise of her phone and Hope's cries. She glanced quickly at the clock—who the fuck was calling her at two in the morning—and reached for her phone, which was blaring some awful pop song, quickly hitting the answer button.

"What?" She said, yawning slightly and getting up to tend to Hope, who continued screaming at the noise.

"Caroline?"

"Klaus!" She said, letting a smile stretch across her face, "Is it over? Are you okay? Can we come back home?" She asked in a rush, not even registering that she had somehow included herself in the planned homecoming.

"Yes. I'll be sending out a jet later today."

"When will it be here? Where should I meet it?" She asked eagerly, balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder while settling Hope on her hip in one practiced movement.

"Just go to the San Francisco airport and compel one of the security personnel for the location of the landing strip for the private jets. It should land around ten."

"Okay. I'll start packing. Will you meet us?"

"Of course, love," he said, laughing quietly at her excitement.

"Don't laugh at me. I've really missed you and Rebekah."

Klaus was silent for a moment, and Caroline heard a small whooshing noise. "I missed you too," he said quietly.

Now it was Caroline laughing. "What, did you have to get away from your minions to say something nice?"

"Only if you count Kol as a minion."

"Embarrassed by me?" She teased.

"Not in the least."

"If you say so," she said, laughing slightly.

"So, shall I see you tonight?" He asked.

"Hmm. Well, I don't know. People will know I exist if that happens. Wouldn't want you to need to hide me away out of embarrassment."

"Oh, love, trust me. We'll be hiding away for quite awhile."

The lustful tone to his voice made her breath catch, and she knew he had heard it too because he continued. "When you come back, I'm going to spend some lovely quality time with my daughter, and then, since Rebekah has missed her so, I'm sure that she won't mind babysitting for a week. Minimum."

"What are we going to do for a week?" Caroline asked, half-playfully-half-surprised.

"You'll have to come to find out," he said, and she could almost hear his dimpled smile.

"I'll think about it," She said, smiling slightly at his huff, "I'll talk to you soon."

"Until tonight, love."

"Tonight." She agreed, before hanging up the phone.

She turned to Hope, who was balanced on her hip. "We're going to see your Dad and Auntie Bekah, okay?"

Hope gurgled and waved her arms, and Caroline laughed and hitched her up a bit more in her arms.

"I know, I'm excited too," Caroline said, agreeing with what she was sure was Hope's intended message.

* * *

Caroline sat on the plush jet with Hope on her lap, humming and playing peekaboo. They had taken off about two hours before, and Caroline was starting to feel exhausted. Upon boarding, she had been provided with a blood bag and shown to the cabin, which didn't have regular plane seats, but instead was lined with plush bench-seats, with a child safety-seat at the end of one of them.

Hope was starting to get tired, so Caroline strapped her into the small seat, and then she sat back against the cushions. She hadn't found anything about bringing back the Other Side yet, and while she was determined to find something, she didn't want to waste time when she would have experts to talk to in just a few hours. Instead, she let herself drift off to sleep.

When she finally woke up, she found a man in front of her, gently touching her shoulder. "Hmm?"

"Er—We're about to land," the man said simply.

"Thank you."

He nodded and left the cabin, apparently returning to whatever he had been doing before.

She felt the plane start to descend, and Hope woke up, bothered by the plane's movement and the sound in her ears.

"Shh. It's okay, sweetie," Caroline said, taking Hope in her arms and rubbing her back soothingly.

Hope's cries turned to hiccups, and Caroline was happy when the plane finally touched the ground.

The man returned as soon as they landed, and ushered her to the plane door and down the steps to the tarmac.

Klaus was standing there, his hands clasped behind his back, a huge smile lighting up his face when he saw them.

"Hey," Caroline said, smiling even more widely.

"Hello, love."

Caroline shifted Hope in her arms before carefully transferring the baby to Klaus's, making sure that he was holding her correctly before letting go. Hope immediately grabbed for her father's necklaces, wrapping her chubby little fist around them.

Klaus smiled, rubbing his daughter's back. The man who had attended to her and another man who must have been the pilot approached, and Klaus nodded. "Take our luggage back to the mansion."

"Please," Caroline added at the end, causing Klaus to smirk at her.

She rolled her eyes.

He shifted Hope slightly in his arms as they walked down the tarmac to the front of the airport, where a town car sat waiting for them. Klaus let Caroline in first, before passing her Hope and getting in himself, immediately taking Hope back.

Caroline didn't blame him. If she had been separated from her daughter for months, she'd want to be connected with her as much as possible, too.

They drove in silence for a bit, Hope peacefully snuggled into Klaus's chest while Klaus watched her sleep with wide, fascinated eyes, and Caroline watching the scene, trying to figure out whether she should take a picture or two, but she eventually decided against it.

She wanted him to be able to treasure the moment forever without fearing possible blackmail material.

When they finally pulled up at the mansion, Rebekah was waiting at the entrance with Matt, while a sullen Elena stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest. Caroline followed Klaus out of the car, and smiled slightly when she saw Hope immediately reach for Rebekah, who sent her niece a thousand-watt smile before taking her smoothly from Klaus's arms.

Matt immediately grabbed Caroline in what would have been a crushing hug had Caroline not been a vampire, and she smiled and hugged him back, albeit a little bit more gently.

"Hey, Care."

"Hey," She said, smiling up at him.

As soon as she let go she was immediately enveloped by another familiar pair of arms, and she and Elena clung to each other desperately. Somehow they both had started crying within the first few seconds of their hug, and neither of them seemed to be able to stop, feeding off the other's heightened emotions, while Klaus and Matt stood to the side looking a little bit unsure of what to do.

Klaus eventually must have decided that enough was enough because he gently pushed them apart and pulled Caroline into him.

She was still sobbing, and he looked incredibly uncomfortable. She took some deep breaths and looked up at him. "Are you feeling all right?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, before taking his hand. "Where's my room? I totally need a shower; I smell like plane."

He laughed quietly and led her upstairs to what must have been his rooms. She smiled at the very Klaus-like color scheme and let him usher her to the bathroom, where she found all of her bath products already unpacked.

He waited by the door and she turned to him. "Well, I need to take a shower."

He nodded and didn't move. She frowned. "I can't take it with you here."

"Why?" He asked, his smile all dimples.

She glared at him. "You have a daughter that you haven't seen in months, I think you should spend time with her while I do this. I haven't had a decent shower in at least a week. The showers at apartment I was staying in were frigging terrible."

"All right, love. Maybe later?"

She smiled again. "I'll think about it. Go."

He put his hands up in surrender, and backed away so that she could close the door.

* * *

She was feeling quite refreshed once she'd finished drying her hair, but she had foregone clothes in favor of one of Klaus's Henley's and her underwear. She laid in his bed, reveling in the smell of him and in her opportunity to be alone. She had missed everyone, but she had missed privacy more, and she honestly hadn't realized how much she missed that until that moment.

She groaned and snuggled her face into the pillow, drifting off for a bit, before being awakened by a weight descending next to her on the bed.

"Hey," she said sleepily.

"Hello," Klaus said quietly, settling himself up against the headboard, his face slightly unsettled.

"So everything worked now? We're safe?" She asked quietly.

He nodded, and she realized that the look on his face was one of nervousness.

"What's wrong?"

He seemed to steel himself for something, before speaking in a completely level voice. "Will you stay? In New Orleans?"

She should have felt like the rug had been ripped out from under her. She should have been surprised, or scared, or at least confused. Instead, she just smiled.

"Of course."

His brow furrowed, as though he didn't quite believe her. "Really?"

"What, are you changing your mind?"

"No," he said definitively.

"Good."

They were silent for a moment, before he smirked slightly. "That's my shirt."

"Yep."

She looked up at him and realized that his eyes were roaming her body hungrily, darkened slightly with lust.

"It's nice. It smells like you," She said quietly.

His eyes flicked up to her face before his mouth was suddenly on hers. The kiss was electric and bruising, his fingers digging into her hips and pulling her so close to him that she almost didn't know where he ended and she began, his tongue thrusting into her mouth, his teeth nipping her bottom lip before he pulled moved his mouth lower to start kissing her jaw, leaving little nips across her neck, hard enough that they'd leave marks.

He found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck and ran his tongue over it, before biting it with his blunt teeth, making her moan and arch into him. She could feel him hard against her thigh, and she hooked a leg around his waist as he scraped his teeth down to her shoulder and pulled him closer still, grinding her barely covered core against the hard bulge in his jeans.

He groaned against her skin, his hand trailing under the hem of the Henley, darting up her stomach to cup one of her breasts in his hand, stroking her sensitive nipple, and then pinching it slightly. She unbuckled his belt and then unbuttoned his jeans, allowing him to kick them off, before reaching down to grasp his cock, pumping it slowly and then rubbing the pad of her thumb over the tip, making him buck slightly into her hand and groan.

She let go and tugged her shirt off, followed by his. He took the opportunity to pepper kisses along her collarbone before lightly nipping and then rolling his tongue over her breasts, making her arch her back, small breathy moans escaping her, and he trailed his fingers down to her center. He hooked a finger around the flimsy scrap of fabric covering her, already wet with her arousal, and tore it off without any effort, tossing it to the side, before thrusting one of his fingers in, causing her to take a quick breath and spread her legs just a bit wider, allowing him more access.

He smirked and added another digit, pumping his fingers in and out of her. She looked down at him through hooded eyes, before throwing her head back, and moaning more loudly. Suddenly, his lips and tongue joined his fingers and she ground against them, her breathy sighs turning into more distinct cries.

She fisted his hair and then gently pulled him away. He looked up at her, seeming slightly confused. "I need you, Klaus. Please," She said quietly.

It seemed to be all the encouragement he needed. Within the space of a few seconds his boxers were off and he was thrusting into her, causing her to throw her head back and moan, matching his rhythm and digging her fingernails into his back.

"Klaus…Oh my god, Klaus…" She said, her breath coming out in hitches, moaning as he hit her  _just_ there, letting his palms settle on her hips and lift them up for a better angle. He let out a small groan as she said his name, slamming into her harder. He bent down slightly and scraped his blunt teeth against her neck, causing her to moan louder, and she tipped her neck to the side, giving him the invitation.

He took it immediately, burying his fangs in her neck while he fucked her, the rush causing her to come hard, her pussy clenching against his cock, while she cried out his name in a breathy sigh. He removed his fangs after she had come, but continued to slam into her, before offering his own neck.

Just the taste of him nearly sent her over the edge again.

She fed from him, reveling in his thick sweet taste, moaning into his neck as she drank, and he spilled inside her, panting hard.

He rested on top of her for a moment before rolling off and she threw a leg over him and kissed him softly, allowing him to pull her close. She snuggled into his chest contentedly, humming at his warmth surrounding her.

She suspected that he normally wasn't much of a cuddler, and was happy to take the offer while it stood.

"I love you, Caroline."

He eyes flew open, and she smiled softly.

"I love you, too."

* * *

Day 195, The Pocket

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Even if it doesn't, we don't really have another choice."

The two people rustled for a moment, getting into position, before clasping hands.

There was a crackle of flames springing up, a short chanting of foreign words, a rush of wind…and then silence.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Day 195, Mystic Falls Graveyard

The first thing Bonnie did was reach into her jacket pocket to pull out her cell phone, which had started vibrating the second they had fallen into the graveyard and wouldn't stop.

The phone hadn't worked in the pocket dimension, but apparently it started receiving messages as soon as it came in contact with an actual cell tower.

She had 200 voicemails.

Every single one of them was from Jeremy.

Damon pulled himself up next to her and mumbled something about calling Elena before walking off, but she barely heard him. Once she listened to the first message she couldn't stop herself from listening to the rest of them.

_You told me you were dying over the phone…_

_Bonnie, why did you leave me, I love you…_

_I miss you Bonnie…_

_I don't know why I keep calling, but I asked your mom if I could keep paying your cell bill. I just want to hear your voice…_

They went on and on, and Bonnie was sniffling by the tenth message, in tears by the fiftieth, sobbing by the hundredth, and by the last one her face was raw and painful.

She hit the call back button, and the call only rang once before it was answered.

"Hello?" Jeremy asked, sounding confused and scared.

"Jeremy…" Bonnie breathed into the mouthpiece.

"Bonnie? You're back? Where are you?" Jeremy asked, his voice rushed.

"The graveyard," Bonnie said, her voice hitching.

"Hold on, I'll be right there," Jeremy said, hanging up before she could reply.

True to his word, he pulled up in his car in less than ten minutes. When he pulled her into his arms and buried his nose in her hair, she could tell that he was crying, and she did too, her tears leaving burning trails down her dry face.

She had missed him so much.

"I'm sorry," She said quietly, "I just didn't know how else to tell you."

"I'm really mad at you, Bon."

His voice was shaky, but he was steady as he held her.

"I know."

He pulled away slowly and grabbed her hand, leading her to his car. "I'll take you home."

"Okay," She agreed tiredly, wanting nothing more than to curl up in her bed, preferably cuddled up with Jeremy, and sleep for days.

He opened the passenger door for her, but pulled her in for a bruising kiss before she got in. "I love you, Bonnie."

"I love you too, Jer."

* * *

Day 195, New Orleans

Caroline, Matt, and Elena were sitting in the living room together chatting and catching up. They hadn't had very much contact with each other over the last few months, and they were glad to have some time together.

"So, you've been living with Klaus's daughter, then?" Elena asked after taking a sip of her water, seeming to want to clarify.

"Yeah. I've been living with her and Rebekah."

Elena screwed up her face slightly, but Caroline knew that her friend was coming around. Elena might be inherently judgy and a little bit self-centered, but she was a good person at heart, and really just wanted the best for her friends.

"I love him, Elena," Caroline said gently.

Elena just shrugged. "Yeah, I do get it, Care. I mean, Damon's done some pretty terrible things. I'm not saying I like it or anything, but you've been almost nothing but supportive of Damon and me. I should do the same for you and Klaus."

"Thanks 'Lena."

Elena gave her a shy smile, before stiffening and pulling out her phone from her purse.

She raised her eyebrows and answered before Caroline or Matt could ask who it was.

"Damon? Omigod. Damon. You're okay! When did you get back? Where are you? Should I come back? When can I come back?" Elena said, so fast that Caroline had trouble keeping up.

Elena had a huge smile stretching across her face, and waved a half-hearted goodbye to Caroline and Matt before she scurried up the stairs, still talking, presumably to pack. Caroline and Matt just shared an amused glance before starting up the conversation again.

"So, you and Rebekah?" Caroline asked, smiling slightly.

"Me and Rebekah," Matt agreed, an easy grin stretching across his face.

"I'm glad you two are happy, Matt."

"I'm glad for you too, Care. I know it's been kinda hard for you, but I think Klaus is good for you."

"Me too."

* * *

Day 199, New Orleans

Hope was wriggling around in her high chair as Caroline tried to feed her. After a few minutes, the baby jar cracked down the side—a sure sign that Hope was done with the whole business of eating—and so Caroline cleaned up.

"Caroline?" Rebekah called from the next room.

"What?"

"What are we dressing Hope up as for Halloween?"

Halloween was the next day, and Caroline knew that there was no way they were going trick or treating. However, Rebekah seemed determined to dress Hope up and take pictures, and Caroline decided to humor her.

Plus, that meant that Caroline got to go shopping for costumes herself, which she always enjoyed.

"I don't know. A vampire?"

She could almost hear Rebekah's exasperated eyeroll at her suggestion, and snickered to herself, picking up Hope in her arms. When she walked into the dining room, she found Rebekah at the table with five large pumpkins sitting on top of some spread-out newspapers.

"Are you carving jack-o-lanterns?" Caroline asked, surprised and a little amused.

"Yes. I was actually hoping that you could convince everyone else to join in, too. We can take pictures and everything."

Elena had flown back to Mystic Falls to be with Damon, which meant that only the original siblings, Matt, and herself were still at the house. Frankly, she wasn't sure whether anyone would be able to convince Elijah to participate in carving jack-o-lanterns (anything messy was pretty much a guaranteed "no" for him), but she suspected that everyone else would be up for it (though Klaus might require a little bit of extra motivation).

She sat Hope down in the dining room high chair and gathered a huge bowl for the pumpkin seeds, as well as some serving spoons to scoop them with. Rebekah left the house and returned quickly with a few pumpkin-carving kits.

Caroline walked upstairs to try to convince everyone to join in.

"Matt?" She called, sticking her head into his and Rebekah's bedroom.

"What?"

"Want to carve jack-o-lanterns with Rebekah and me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really," She said, laughing.

"I'll be right down."

She found Kol and Elijah in the library and asked them too. After explaining the entire process to Kol, and reassuring him that yes, they would be using knives, he agreed. She then hastened to clarify that she'd rather there wasn't any violence involved, but he just smirked. "Of course, darling, if you insist."

Elijah, as Caroline had expected, adamantly refused to have anything to do with the activity.

Klaus was a bit more difficult to convince, though.

"Klaus?"

"In here," Klaus called from his studio.

She wandered in and studied the canvas he was working on. It depicted her, Rebekah, and Hope sitting on the couch in the safehouse. They were all smiling, and Caroline admired the way he'd captured Hope's expression.

"Do you want to carve jack-o-lanterns with us?"

He turned to face her, drying off his hands with a rag. "Not particularly."

"Please?"

"I'm in the middle of something, love."

"It'll be really fun," she cajoled, sauntering closer to him and resting her hands on his shoulders.

"I'd really rather not, love."

"Why?"

"It just doesn't appeal to me, to be honest."

She put on her best puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

He still looked unenthused by the idea, so she pulled out the big guns. "I'll let you pick out my Halloween costume."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, now?"

She nodded and nearly broke down into giggles at the serious expression of contemplation he had on his face.

"Fine, I'll be down in just a moment, all right?"

"Mmkay."

She took her chair at the dining room table next to Rebekah and sawed off the top of her pumpkin, starting to scoop the seeds out. Hope watched with interest as Matt and the two girls began their pumpkins, and Kol joined them a few moments later, eagerly cutting into his. It had been a little longer than twenty minutes when Klaus arrived, taking the seat next to Caroline.

She grinned as she watched him. His brows were furrowed a little bit in concentration as he carefully scooped out the seeds of his pumpkin and pulled out a pen to draw the design. She realized that he was actually taking this incredibly seriously when she saw him start to outline a picture on the pumpkin, glancing at a sketch next to him every few seconds for reference.

He noticed her looking and shifted his pumpkin a bit so that she couldn't see what he was drawing, making her roll her eyes.

They chatted as they worked, occasionally commenting on each other's designs (except Klaus, who was incredibly focused on whatever he was doing and wouldn't let anyone see).

She stuck her tongue out between her teeth as she concentrated on carving a perfect smile on her pumpkin. Rebekah seemed to be trying to do a flower, and Kol seemed to be mostly succeeding at a rather scary-looking skull.

Hope got bored about half an hour in, and started fussing. Caroline carefully wiped off her hands with a cloth and got up to attend to her.

She plucked Hope from her high chair into her arms. "Do you want a nap, Hope?"

Hope babbled as Caroline hitched her up a bit higher in her arms, walking up the stairs to the nursery. She set Hope carefully in the crib and stroked her cheek softly before leaving.

She was almost to the top of the stairs when she heard her name in the dining room, and strained her ears to hear.

"—Caroline will be willing to, though?" Kol asked, apparently finishing a question.

"I should hope so. She was there for her first six months, there's no reason she can't stay as Hope's parent," Rebekah said.

"Have you actually asked her?" Kol continued, sounding a little uncharacteristically concerned.

"I think she wants to," Rebekah argued.

"How will you know unless you ask?"

"Kol," Caroline heard Klaus say in a tired voice, "If Caroline is staying here, she'll stay with Hope. It's a rather clear-cut situation in my opinion."

"I still think you should ask her," Kol said.

"Don't be silly, Kol. Caroline's Hope's mum just as much as I'm her aunt."

Caroline stilled completely, taking a sharp breath, before forcing herself to relax.

She had already decided that she could do this, and if there was anything that Caroline Forbes was not, that was a quitter.

She was Hope's mother.

She returned to the dining room, a beaming smile stretched across her face, and sat back down next to Klaus, gasping in awe when she realized what his picture was.

It was a wolf silhouetted against a full moon. "It's beautiful," She breathed.

He just smiled at her.

* * *

Day 200, New Orleans

Caroline had been up since late morning, making the final plans for the night. Matt and Rebekah would be babysitting Hope while Caroline, Elijah, Kol, and Klaus attended the annual Halloween party that Marcel hosted.

Rebekah had already went to the store and brought back a costume for Hope (a ladybug), and she and Matt were planning on watching Disney movies with her all night.

Klaus still wouldn't tell her what she was dressing up as, but Caroline was sure that Rebekah knew, because she had dragged Caroline to one of the many spare bedrooms to prepare around three in the afternoon (even though the party wasn't until evening), and had given the hairdresser and make-up artists some very specific instructions.

Caroline had spent the last hour or two having her nails done, and her make-up had just been finished. Currently the hairdresser was tugging and twisting her curls, and while Caroline wasn't quite sure what the style would end up being, she thought that it looked beautiful already.

She and Rebekah were pronounced done around five, and Rebekah ordered Caroline to stay put while she grabbed a blood bag and Caroline's costume. Rebekah left the garment bag and wooden case on the bed and immediately left again to put on her own costume.

The anticipation to know about her costume was killing her, and Caroline nearly guzzled down the blood bag just so she wouldn't have to wait any longer. Once she had made sure that there was no chance of a bloodstain anywhere, she unzipped the garment bag to reveal a beautiful ball gown.

It was made of flowing powdery blue tulle. The bodice was fitted with a golden lace overlay, and the skirt would float around her, trailing on the ground even with the high strappy heels that she was wearing.

Once she had slipped on the dress, she opened the wooden box to find a beautiful tiara and the infinity bracelet Klaus had given her on her eighteenth birthday.

"Need a hand, love?"

She turned to see Klaus walking through the doorway in a suit, smiling at her.

"Sure, I guess."

He shook his head and plucked the tiara from her hands, carefully settling it into her hair.

She turned around to face the mirror. The gown fit perfectly to her figure, highlighting her small waist and the curve of her hips. She fastened on the infinity bracelet and turned to Klaus.

"A princess? Seriously?"

He shook his head.

"Not a princess, love. A queen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story. I only post stories that take place in the TVD universe on AO3 (though all my drabbles are here regardless of universe).   
> All of my AU/AH or non-TVD AUs can also be found on ffnet under the same penname. 
> 
> My tumblr is thetourguidebarbie, and my barely-used twitter is @AngieWritesKC.
> 
> The polyvore outfits for this fic can be found at http://www.polyvore.com/safehouse/collection?id=3987926 and the rest of my collections for my other fics can be found at zarialk.polyvore.com


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